Reforming the Legal and Institutional Framework for the Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Claims in Portugal

By Sebastiaan Pompe, Wolfgang Bergthaler

December 28, 2015

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Sebastiaan Pompe, and Wolfgang Bergthaler. Reforming the Legal and Institutional Framework for the Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Claims in Portugal, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2015) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper discusses the recent major reforms in the area of civil and commercial claims enforcement undertaken by the Portuguese authorities in the context of the IMF/EU-supported adjustment program. The economic literature has long recognized that slow claims enforcement affects economic growth, foreign direct investment, credit and labor markets, and firm size. The Portuguese authorities together with IMF/EU staff deployed a novel approach that has focused on incentives tackling weaknesses in the enforcement process with the aim of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of claims enforcement and resolving court backlogs. The paper finds impressive quantifiable changes affecting, in particular, court backlog reduction, court processing speed, and private debt recovery. The economic literature suggests that this will impact positively on the payment culture and overall growth, even if such impact cannot be determined at this stage.

Subject: Central counterparty clearing house, Dispute resolution, Financial markets, Labor, Legal support in revenue administration, Revenue administration, Tax incentives, Taxes, Value-added tax

Keywords: Adjustment program, Central counterparty clearing house, Civil and commercial claims enforcement, Court fee, Court process, Courts, Dispute resolution, Enforcement agent, Enforcement case, Enforcement process, Europe, Global, IMF, Judicial reform, Judicial system, Legal support in revenue administration, Macro-criticality, Tax authorities, Value-added tax, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

41
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2015/279
Stock No:

WPIEA2015279
ISBN:

9781498387989
ISSN:

1018-5941

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