NOTIFIED COMPANIES HAVE 90 DAYS TO ADHERE TO THE ELECTRONIC COMPLAINT BOOK

The Government has decided to introduce a previous notification mechanism in order to make the economic agents to adhere to the Electronic Complaints Book and they will have 90 days to regularize their situation, indicated the Ministry of Economy, in response to Lusa agency.

The Executive approved, in the Council of Ministers, a decree-law that adopts the necessary measures to fulfill the obligation to keep the Electronic Complaints Book.

Official source of the tutelage explained that "the Government considered it appropriate to address concerns expressed by some economic operators regarding the application of the Complaints Book regime, introducing a prior notification mechanism to fulfill the need for its availability in electronic format".

Therefore, it carried out amendments "that contemplate prior notification for compliance before the initiation of proceedings for administrative offenses in cases where the economic operator still does not comply with this requirement".

In other words, "in a pedagogical way", the inspection entities that detect that the economic operator does not fulfill that obligation, "instead of immediately instituting a counter-ordering process, communicate a period of up to 90 days to regularize the situation", said the Ministry.

This diploma "will come into force on the day after its publication", according to the Government.

According to data sent to Lusa by the tutelage, last year "there were 87,240 complaints through the Complaints Book in electronic format, an increase of more than 50% compared to 2018 (57,477)".

In July, the Ministry of Economy announced that it had extended the period for six months for economic operators to register on the digital platform of the Complaints Book.

This Government position comes after the restaurants and hotels’ companies have asked for more time to adhere to the Electronic Complaints Book, alleging difficulties in accessing the register, revealed the association AHRESP, which represents the sector.