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Decree-law n. 73/2008 has been published on April 16, following other measures that have been taken by the Portuguese Government in order to eliminate formalities and to simplify procedures, as well as to avail new services through the Internet for acts of the life of corporations. This Decree provides for the Commercial Registry to become bilingual, Portuguese and English and also for the creation of the special regime of the "Branch on-the-spot". From now on it is therefore possible to create one branch in Portugal of an entity with registered office abroad within the same day in just one office.
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BILINGUAL REGISTRATION
With the creation of a Bilingual Commercial Registry using the English language, any interested party may, from now on, by electronic means, acknowledge in English the information on the legal situation of the records of a commercial company. Such information has legal effects equivalent to the information made available in Portuguese language. A measure allowing the availability to foreign investors of information about Portuguese companies on a more accessible and immediate way is at stake, without being necessary to resort to translation services. The use of the English language is justified as it is the language universally used for business and understood anywhere in the world.
If ever justified in the future, the possibility of using in the Commercial Registry other foreign languages has been safeguarded.
BRANCH ON-THE-SPOT
Nowadays a foreign company wishing to open a branch in Portugal no longer has to comply with unnecessary formalities and burocracy, besides making several displacements to various services. With the creation of the "Branch on-the-spot", it becomes possible for an entity with registered office abroad to form a branch in Portugal on the same day, in just one office, without displacements to several services of the Registry, to the services of the Finance Department and to the social Security services. Following the creation of one "Branch on-the-spot", information that previously implied several displacements is now conveyed directly to the interested parties.
That is the case of the information being part of the Commercial Registration, which now appears on a permanent certificate of the branch that is made available free of charge on an Internet site for the term of one year, or the communication to the interested parties of the Social Security identification number of the branch.
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