João Pacheco de Amorim

Urban rehabilitation; urban rehabilitation area; urban rehabilitation operation; reduced VAT rate; urban rehabilitation works contract; item 2.23 of List I annexed to the VAT.

This article critically analyses the interpretation of item 2.23 of List I annexed to the Portuguese VAT Code, with regard to the application of the reduced 6% VAT rate to urban rehabilitation works carried out on properties located in Urban Rehabilitation Areas (Áreas de Reabilitação Urbana – ARU). For many years, the Tax Authority and other legal operators embraced a broad concept of “urban rehabilitation”, such that, for the purposes of the tax benefit, it was sufficient for the works to be carried out on a property located within a legally delimited ARU. From 2020 onwards, however, the Tax Authority adopted a different interpretative approach, recently endorsed by the Portuguese Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment for the unification of case law of 26 March 2025, which now requires the prior approval of an Urban Rehabilitation Operation (Operação de Reabilitação Urbana – ORU).

Elisabetta De Luca

Predictive justice; risk assessment systems; artificial intelligence; criminal justice; algorithmic discrimination; fundamental rights.

This study analyzes the use of risk assessment systems within the framework of predictive justice, with particular reference to the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) and COMPAS models. Starting from the observation that the literature has already extensively addressed and examined the problematic aspects relating to algorithmic opacity, the analysis is situated on a different level of observation, shifting the focus by concentrating on the modalities of selection of the risk factors embedded in such systems. The underlying thesis is that it is not sufficient to focus exclusively on the outcome produced, but that it is necessary to guide the selection of the variables by addressing seemingly neutral factors and proxy variables. On the basis of these premises, the paper proposes the notion of a “legally acceptable risk factor”, understood as a category subject to a preliminary normative scrutiny, grounded in the principles of equality and non-discrimination and presumption of innocence.

Patricia Díaz Rubio

Gender equality; principle of equality; maternity allowance; joint assessment; Personal Income Tax; Spanish tax system.

Personal Income Tax involves two elements, namely the maternity allowance and joint assessment, which have been criticised by experts as being against the principle of equality between men and women. This has led to the legislator itself having to justify the reasons why these measures exist. This paper involves the study of the configuration of the maternity allowance and joint assessment, an analysis that is required if we are to determine whether in reality situations running contrary to the principle of equality are produced, in which case the appropriate measures would need to be taken.

David Falcão

Foreign academic degree; doctorate; specific recognition, automatic recognition; Decree-Law no 66/2018, of August 16.
 

Since the entry into force of the Decree-Law n.º 66/2018, of August 16, a biased interpretation leads to the requirement of specific recognition of doctoral degrees obtained abroad, to the detriment of automatic recognition, as a requirement for admission to public tenders. In this study, we intend to conduct an in-depth analysis of the Decree-Law regarding this issue, with the intention of create doctrine on the matter and assist judges in its application to specific cases, since disputes are beginning to emerge in case law. More are on the horizon.

Diana Magalhães Godinho

Urban lease; exceptio non adimpleti contractus; good faith; ancillary duties; synallagma; repair works.

This article examines the landlord’s breach of the secondary duty to carry out works in urban lease agreements, assessing the extent to which such breach may entitle the tenant to invoke the exception of non-performance. To narrow down the scope of the study, the analysis begins with a characterization of the lease contract, with reference to its essential elements and the main obligations of the parties. It then examines the legal regime of the exception of non-performance, highlighting its basis, requirements, nature, and effects, as developed in legal doctrine and case law. The article also addresses its interaction with other relevant legal mechanisms in the context of lease agreements, namely contract termination and the regime governing impossibility of performance, emphasizing their distinct functional roles.

Rafael Moll Noguera

Climate risk; risk prevention; public collaboration; preventive responsibility.

The present study addresses the link between risks to workers arising from climate change and their connection with occupational health and safety regulations in Spain. It starts from the need to conceptually dissociate the idea of occupational risk from climate risk, while also separating and clarifying the scope of employer liability in relation to the duty of public authorities to protect citizens’ health. Specifically, attention is paid, on the one hand, to the set of initiatives linked to soft law that, in some way, bring these two realities closer together and, on the other, it proposes a review of the current regulatory framework in order to introduce improvements and efficient operational mechanisms that protect workers from climate-related risks.

Fernanda Estevão Picorelli

Climate litigation; sustainability; human dignity; subsidiarity; extraterritoriality; epistemology of evidence.

This article examines how the principles of subsidiarity and extraterritoriality conditioned access to justice in Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and Others, situating the discussion within the ecological crisis of the Anthropocene. Its aim is to assess whether these principles can — and should — be relaxed when they collide with the foundational principles of sustainability and human dignity. The methodology combines an interdisciplinary literature review, normative analysis, and a case study, integrating contributions from contemporary constitutionalism, critical and evolutionary adjudication, and the epistemology of evidence. The findings show that the European Court of Human Rights’ decision of inadmissibility reflects a formalistic approach incapable of incorporating ecological hermeneutic parameters or ensuring protection in climate litigation.

Carlos C. Proença

European Court of Auditors; Supreme Audit Institutions; financial control; judicial review; audit.

As the Supreme Institution for External Financial Control of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors is modelled on the mixed model that emerged in Germany, which is why, although it bears the name of a court, it lacks jurisdictional competences, but rather exercises financial control functions, audits the Union's accounts and ensures sound European public financial management, which are administrative in nature and where audits, in their various modalities, are the main instrument. In financial matters, particularly the control of budget implementation, the European Court of Auditors assists the European Parliament and the Council. In European litigation instruments for which it has standing, it may intervene as a party and not as a judge.

Milena da Silva Rouxinol

Discrimination by association; indirect discrimination; disability; reasonable accommodation; work-family balance.

This text analyzes a recent judgment of the Court of Justice (of the European Union), which employs the concept of discrimination by association, considering that it occurs in the form of indirect discrimination when there is a failure to provide reasonable accommodation measures for the benefit of a caregiver of a person with a disability. The analysis is carried out taking into account the previous case law of the same court, especially that which outlined the concept of discrimination by association.

Sílvia Simal

European Union; TFEU; Soft law; Competition; European Commission; State aid; Economic advantage; MEO test.

This study focuses, firstly, on the legal framework governing State aid under the TFEU and Portuguese national legislation. Particular attention is given to the concept of State aid and the criteria used to determine its existence, the possibility of legal justification for State aid measures and, ultimately, the application of the MEO test. Secondly, the MEO test is assessed to determine whether a given public intervention constitutes State aid, and whether the State and/or public entities acted as a private operator of comparable size would have acted under normal market conditions and in similar circumstances. Specifically, the general principles for applying the MEO test are examined, along with the various methods available to verify the conformity of the adopted measures with market conditions.

Luiza Borges Terra

Money Laundering; Criminal law; Law 9.613/1998; Brazilian; Administration of Justice; Socioeconomic crime.

This article examines the construction and dogmatic basis of the crime of money laundering in Brazilian law from a transnational perspective, highlighting how the emergence of this crime has made it difficult to determine the legal right protected by these acts. It traces the legislative evolution of Law 9.613/1998 to address the controversy surrounding the protected legal interest, beginning with the question of whether there is a legal interest protected by these acts. It then presents the different theories present in Brazilian law on the subject, including the position that money laundering protects the same legal interest as the predicate offence, the administration of justice or the socio-economic order, rejecting these positions and pointing out systematic and dogmatic inconsistencies in them.

Jéssica Marques Ferreira

European Union; Mortgage Credit Directive; Consumer protection; Transposition into the legal systems of the Member States; Revision of the Mortgage Credit Directive.

Book review of MIRIAM ANDERSON; ESTHER ARROYO AMAYUELAS (eds.), The Mortgage Credit Directive under Review, Zutphen, Europa Law Publishing, 2025, 426 pp. (ISBN: 9789462513778)

Caio Mello / Luiza Toniolo

Unfair Contract Terms; (Digital) Consumer Law; Digital Services; Digital Fairness Act (DFA); Directive 93/13/EEC on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts; Digital Services Act (DSA).

A review of SERGIO CÁMARA LAPUENTE (Ed.), Cláusulas abusivas en los Contratos de servicios digitales, Barcelona, Atelier, 2026, 520 pp. (ISBN: 979-13-88250-05-7)