Ensuring compliance with the Portuguese competition law and advocating in favour of competition in the Portuguese economy is the core mission of the Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) - Portuguese Competition Authority. The work of the AdC includes fostering healthy competition among market players and raising awareness among economic agents and relevant authorities about the benefits of competition.

Following a deep recession, Portugal has been recovering steadily since 2014. The economy is back on a positive growth path, with past structural reforms and more favourable global economic conditions all contributing to the upswing. The recovery has largely been sustained by a strong export performance and now domestic demand is also picking up. After receding in the five years following the 2008 crisis, employment growth is now positive and wages are increasing.

In 2016, the OECD was asked by the Portuguese Competition Authority to carry out a study to identify and assess the impact of regulatory barriers to competition in the land and maritime transport sectors, and in 13 self-regulated professions in Portugal. This volume of the project report describes the outcome of the Competition Assessment Project for the self-regulated professions.

This report identifies distortions to competition in the Portuguese legislation. It proposes recommendations for the removal of regulatory barriers to competition in the regulations of 13 self-regulated professions: lawyers, notaries, solicitors and enforcement agents; architects, engineers and technical engineers; auditors, certified accountants, customs brokers, economists; nutritionists and pharmacists. The benefits resulting from the removal of regulatory barriers will lead to increased entry and facilitate business conduct, thereby bringing about lower prices, more innovative and diverse services and greater choice for consumers, and the ability to better meet wide-ranging demand as new, more efficient professional firms enter the market or existing professional firms adopt innovative forms of production and delivery of services. Provided the recommendations are implemented, the OECD estimates that the positive impact on the Portuguese economy will be around EUR 128 million.

The existence of a well-functioning professional services market ultimately affects most economic activities and is fundamental to enable productivity growth and welfare. Regulated professions play an important role in the Portuguese economy. The three professional sectors “legal”, “technical/scientific” and “financial/economic”, represent 2.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employ around 144 000 people, with services that touch nearly every sector of economic activity. This section provides a brief overview of the rationale for regulating liberal professions and identifies the common market problems associated with them. It includes a description of the main regulatory frameworks and an economic overview of the regulated professions in Portugal. In sum, the current approach to the regulation of several professions is a prescriptive one, which leads to regulations that create several barriers to competition not justified by public interest concerns.

Law 2/2013 provides the framework for the establishment and functioning of professional associations in Portugal. This framework is premised on the protection of the public interest. Professional associations have representative and regulatory powers in relation to their members and candidates. These powers can include establishing mandatory academic qualifications and traineeship requirements for membership, as well as restrictions on partnerships, shareholding, management and multidisciplinary practice of professional firms. In exchange, professionals are granted the ability to provide certain services that are often exclusively reserved for them.

This chapter discusses barriers to competition in the legal professions: lawyers, notaries, solicitors and enforcement agents. In 2016, the legal professions accounted for EUR 823 million, corresponding to 0.4% of Portuguese GDP, and employed 35 631 people. These professions play a decisive role in the administration of justice. There are significant economic arguments for regulations specific to the legal professions which, when left unaddressed, could lead to inefficient market outcomes and a direct impact on social welfare. The legal professions enjoy exclusive rights to provide specified services and access to these professions is restricted. In return, legal professionals are required to comply with a range of regulations restricting advertising, licence quotas and geographic limitations for notaries, and fixed and maximum fees. The report proposes recommendations to reduce the negative impact of such restrictions while addressing the policy objective identified.

This chapter discusses the regulation of architects, engineers and technical engineers. In 2015, the architectural and engineering services provided to Portuguese firms and households represented EUR 1 723.9 million and, in 2017 there were 96 690 individuals who were members of the professional associations related to architects, engineers and technical engineers. The exercise of these three professions and the legislation applicable to them are linked closely to public safety and health concerns. Nevertheless, several barriers to competition have been identified, including reservation of specific activities and specialisations for certain professions; requirement of a minimum number of years of experience in order to perform certain tasks; and limitation of freedom to establish prices. These barriers inhibit cost savings. They increase legal and regulatory uncertainty for potential and existing architects, engineers and technical engineers while also allowing some of them to be placed at a competitive disadvantage.

This chapter covers the regulation of auditors, certified accountants, customs brokers and economists. In 2015, accounting, auditing and consulting services provided to Portuguese firms and households represented EUR 2 044 million which corresponds to 15.5% of all services provided to firms. Several barriers to competition were identified in the legislation applicable to access to, and the exercise of, the four professions in question, including: reserving certain activities for specific professions; requirements for minimum academic qualifications; requirements concerning partnerships, shareholding, management and multidisciplinary activities within professional firms; the minimum civil liability insurance coverage necessary for practising certain professions; and compulsory disclosure of operational information. Those barriers inflate costs and increase legal and regulatory uncertainty for potential and existing auditors, certified accountants, customs brokers and economists, while placing some members of these professions at a competitive disadvantage.

This chapter analyses the regulation of pharmacists and nutritionists. It focuses mainly on an important issue arising from the Draft-Law 34/XIII text, still pending in parliament, which aims to reserve acts for nutritionists and pharmacists. The provision of healthcare services is heavily regulated throughout the European Union and elsewhere to ensure the health and public safety of consumers overall, considering the positive externalities arising from healthcare services. In 2015, actively practising nutritionists were distributed mainly through clinical nutritionist services (51.97%) and hospitals (19.01%), among others. The majority of practising pharmacists in Portugal work in local community pharmacies (75%), followed by hospital pharmacies (13%). The regulatory barriers analysed here include reserved acts and exclusivity of functions.

This study covers the Portuguese self-regulated professions. In particular, the study analyses 13 self-regulated professions and also framework legislation. The professions covered in this study are as follows, accompanied by the corresponding codes according to the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE):