I. EDITORIAL – LEGAL REGIME FOR THE CONVERSION OF CAPITAL CREDITS

During the month of March, was published the Law no. 7/2018 of March 2, which created the legal regime for the conversion of credits into capital, being thus legally regulated the procedure by which commercial companies, or in commercial form, with their head office in Portugal, may convert their debt into share capital, provided that certain assumptions have been met. This Law was approved under the “Capitalizar” Programme, one of whose objectives is to promote more balanced financial structures, reducing the liabilities of economically viable companies, even with excessive levels of indebtedness.

Also, as an initiative of the same Programme, is highlighted the Law No. 8/2018 of March 2, which establishes the Extrajudicial Regime for the Recovery of Companies (“RERE”), according to which the debtors in a difficult economic situation or imminent insolvency are allowed to seek a voluntary recovery agreement through negotiations with their creditors.

Regarding the case-law, we would point out as subjects of interest the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 22.03.2018 (C-688/15 and C-109/16), the decisions of the Constitutional Court No. 130/2018 and No.132/2018 of March 13, and also the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of March 14, 2012, in the Case No. 0303/17.

The Constitutional Court on the Judgment 132/2018, of March 13 judges unconstitutional the rule contained in Article 50 (1) (b) and (2) of the Legal Regime of Driving Instruction, approved by Law no. 14/2014, of March 18, interpreted as revoking the professional title to the driving instructor convicted of a crime practiced in exercise of his profession by a sentence that does not apply an accessory penalty of prohibition or suspension of the exercise of that activity automatically operate, without being weighed, by the Institute for Mobility and Transports, the necessary elements for the assessment of the affectation, by that condemnatory decision, of the trustworthiness of the instructor, and interprets the norms contained in article 15, paragraph 1 (a) and (2) of the of the same Law, in the sense that the lack of trustworthiness therein provided as a consequence of a criminal conviction to restrict to cases in which this sentence applies an accessory penalty of disqualification, prohibition or suspension of the exercise of driving education activity.

Finally, it is also worth mentioning the approval, in the Council of Ministers, of the Draft of the Law which authorises the Government to establish a new legal regime for payment services and electronic money, transposing the EU Directive 2015/2366.