On 9 August, Decree-Law no. 66/2023 of August 8 (“Decree-Law no. 66/2023”) entered into force in Portugal, with the aim of ensuring the full application in the Portuguese legal system of a set of European Union Regulations relating to financial services, including Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on European crowdfunding service providers for business (“Crowdfunding Regulation”) and Regulation (EU) 2022/858 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (“DLT Regulation”).
In harmony with the Crowdfunding Regulation, Decree-Law no. 66/2023 amended the Law no. 102/2015, of 24 August, which establishes the Portuguese Legal Framework of Crowdfunding. The changes made to the national regime include an adjustment to the catalogue of entities that may be authorised by the national regulator to provide crowdfunding services (credit institutions, investment firms, electronic money institutions, payment service providers and other commercial companies which comply with the legal requirements), and rules on the provision of information to clients, including marketing communications. Furthermore, the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (“CMVM”) remains the competent authority for regulation and supervision in this field.
The Decree-Law no. 66/2023 ensures the implementation of an experimental regime for the use of distributed ledger technology in the financial system by approving the Implementing Regime for the DLT Regulation. In particular, the Implementing Regime for the DLT Regulation delimits the scope of activity of operators of DLT-based market infrastructures. It also exempts compliance with certain rules on the registration of securities laid down in the Portuguese Securities Code, with a view to reconciling the financial disintermediation fostered by the adoption of DLT with the national securities registration system. Lastly, this regime determines that the CMVM is the competent authority to grant and revoke the specific authorisation for the operation of a DLT-based market infrastructure in accordance with the DLT Regulation.
The changes to the national law introduced by the Decree-Law no. 66/2023 ensure that internal provisions are harmonised with European law and increase certainty and transparency for investors and the market.