PortugalLei n.º 12-A/2026 (Law Carrying Out the Digital Services Act), Orders, Coordinator and Fines
Lei n.º 12-A/2026, de 15 de abril
In force since .
A transparency and process rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Disclosure, Reporting
As of .
What it requires
- Comply, within the time each order sets, with orders from the competent judicial authorities or administrative bodies to act on illegal content, to give information on specific individual recipients of your service, or to supply lists of recipients or information on a group of unidentified recipients (Article 2).
- Give the Digital Services Coordinator, without undue delay and within the time it fixes, the information it requires about a suspected infringement of the Regulation or of the Act (Article 6(1)(a)).
- Designate a single point of contact for authorities and publish, in an easily accessible and current form, the information needed to identify and reach it (Article 18(1)(e) and (f), backing Article 11 of the Regulation).
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 20(2) sets the maximum fine for most offences at 6 percent of a legal person's worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year, or 6 percent of a natural person's income, and Article 20(1) sets it at 1 percent for the offences it lists. Article 20(3) halves the maxima for negligence or attempt. Article 28(1) caps a compulsory penalty payment at 5 percent of average daily worldwide turnover or income per day, for no more than 30 days.
- Rule
- Turnover pct only
- As of
- Turnover percentage cap
- 6
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), the Digital Services Coordinator under Article 5(1), with the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social and the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados competent for the articles of the Regulation that Article 5(5) and (6) assign to them.
What this law does
Article 2 requires providers of intermediary services to comply, within the time the orders set, with the orders of the competent judicial authorities or administrative bodies to act on illegal content, to give information on specific individual recipients, and to supply lists of recipients or information on a group of unidentified recipients.
Article 5(1) designates the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) as the competent administrative authority and as the Digital Services Coordinator. Article 5(5) designates the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) as the competent administrative authority for Article 14(3), Article 26(1) and (2) and Article 28(1) of the Regulation, and Article 5(6) designates the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD) for Article 26(3) and Article 28(2).
Article 6(1)(a) lets the Coordinator require providers of intermediary services, and other persons who may know of a suspected infringement, to provide information without undue delay and within the time fixed. Article 7(a) lets the Coordinator, once its other powers are exhausted, notify the management body of a provider in writing to analyze the situation, present an action plan, ensure its implementation and report on it.
Article 18(1)(e) and (f) make it an administrative offence to fail to designate a single point of contact or to fail to publish the information needed to identify and reach it. Article 20(2) sets the maximum fine for the offences it lists, including those in points e) to k) of Article 18(1), at 6 percent of a legal person's worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year, or 6 percent of a natural person's income in the preceding year.
Article 20(1) sets the maximum fine for the offences in points a) to d) and l) of Article 18(1), among others, at 1 percent of the same base. Article 28 lets the Coordinator impose a compulsory penalty payment of up to 5 percent of average daily worldwide turnover or income per day, for no more than 30 days. Article 35 repeals Articles 12 to 19 of Decreto-Lei n.º 7/2004 and Decreto-Lei n.º 20-B/2024. The Act took effect on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.