We hereby inform the business community and other interested parties that the National Inspection of Economic Activities – INAE, within the scope of its competence to monitor compliance of the Regulation of the Exercise of Commercial Activities, approved by Decree No. 34/2013, of 2 August has been imposing fines on Foreign Commercial Representations (branches) that do not renew their licenses in a timely manner, pursuant to subparagraph d) of paragraph 2 of Article 16 of Decree No. 34/2013. The fines correspond to 10 (ten) minimum wages of the public service in force. 

It is recommended that the Foreign Commercial Representations begin the process of renewing the licenses before the expiration of the validity of the license, in order to avoid fines being imposed on them. The Regulation states that the renewal must be done at least 10 business days prior to the expiration date of the current license. It should be noted that fines must be paid within 15 days from the date of notification, and in the absence of payment, the case may be referred to court.