O incumprimento do contrato de crédito ao consumo pelo consumidor

Consumer relations, established between the Consumer and the Creditor, which carry a consequent inequality of contractual positioning between the parties, have been pushing the legislator to adopt more rigid regulations with regard to lending for the purchase of goods or services of consum issues. In this sense, the Decree-Law 359/91 was approved, meanwhile repealed by the Decree-Law 133/2009, which regulates the consumer credit agreement’s regime in the portuguese legal system. Through this contract, the financier makes available to the consumer a certain amount of money, which the consumer must repay, plus the respective remuneration (interest) and other charges, according to a refund plan agreed by the parties. The consumer will be in delay if he breaches this stipulation. In case of default, the creditor, notwithstanding, can choose to wait for the performance by the debtor, promote the loss of benefit of the term or the termination of the contract. From the outset it would seem that, in one way or another, the financier, by imposing a forced shortening of the contract duration initially agreed, will lose the right to remuneration for the provision of capital agreed, but not verified. Nevertheless, unlike presently, the previous regime allowed the parties to rule otherwise, being permitted to agree to the payment of interest of outstanding installments. On the other hand, in the consumer credit contract the principle of freedom of contractual provision of the parties is strongly mitigated by the special legislation, which prevents the waiver of rights by the consumer, and by the regime of general contractual terms, which restricts the freedom of the financier to stipulate the contractual content freely and the freedom of the consumer to negotiate. For all these reasons, associated with the growing need of credit resource to satisfy their needs of consumption, it is confirm the relevance of legislative intervention on consumers protection in the context of hiring credit.

A segurança dos consumidores

The present report, about consumer’s safety, shows the development of the knowledge on this particular subject and the actions carried out by entities that fight for the protection of consumer’s rights. The internship was based on the knowledge acquirement on the theoretical and practical aspects of the fight lead by the Direção Geral do Consumidor, together with other entities, towards the elimination or solely the reduction of risks caused by some products and services made available for the consumers or put on the market. During the internship, I counted with the support of my supervisor in the DGC, Dr. Ana Catarina Fonseca and, for the writing of the report, I had the help of my thesis advisor, Dr. Jorge Morais Carvalho, whenever I needed constructive criticism. My participation on the creation of the informative brochures about consumer’s safety, and the study of the legislation used by the DGC on the daily work, enabled me, effectively, to consolidate my guiding principles as a future professional on the matters of the creation of entities, private and public, which aim to ensure the protection of consumers’s rights, informing them of the possible risks or solving the already existing problems, removing dangerous products and services from the market.The report clarifies the action of the DGC on the protection of consumer’s safety, and enables some knowledge on the relations between the entities that work for the protection of the consumers and the market operators and on their work on identifying dangerous products and warning the consumers about it. The final part of this report contains information that allows us to form an idea of the importance that consumer safety has had in Cape Verde, compared with the laws of Portugal on the matter.

A protecção jurídica do consumidor em Angola

The scope of the present work is to study the legal protection conferred upon the consumer in Angola, especially as regards electronic communication agreements. Its purpose is to promote consumers’ rights and contribute to its defence given the relatively privileged position of professionals in their relationship with consumers. With this in mind, we have made a description of the Consumer Law in Angola based on the Angolan Constitution (as the law that establishes the fundamental rights and guarantees of citizens) and on the Consumer’s Defence Law, which, as the basic law regarding consumers’ rights, provides the framework for this dissertation. We have analysed several aspects relating to consumer relationships, starting from its concept and rights of consumers and covering the legal and contractual mechanisms put in place for their protection. We have also analysed the Advertising Law with a view to better understand consumer’s rights before advertising campaigns carried out by professionals whilst promoting their goods and services and, additionally, to understand the duties and principles that shall be complied with in such campaigns with the purpose to protect the rights and interests of consumers. From a criminal point of view, we have briefly covered the crimes against consumers provided for in the Penal Code and the Law of Infractions against the Economy. In the second part of this work, we have summarised the institutions that protect the rights and interests of consumers, which include the Public Prosecutor Office, the National Institute for the Defence of the Consumers and the Consumers’ Associations. The third and last part of this work covers electronic communications agreements. Given the fact that there is no specific legislation in this matter, our analysis was based on the Civil Code – specifically the part relating to contracts – the Law on General Contractual Terms and Conditions and the Consumer’s Defence Law. We have analysed the formation of contracts, compliance and consumers’ rights resulting from contract breach. We further have appealed to the Angolan legislator to legislate certain aspects of consumer relationships, especially those where breach of consumers’ rights are blatant and facilitated by the lack of specific laws addressing such cases.

A indústria de defesa na cooperação Brasil-Portugal

The global dynamics of alliances are strongly determined by the level of cooperation among states. This cooperation can be embodied in various aspects, but the level of defense and security cooperation becomes usually more doctrinal and lasting. By the nature of sovereignty that instills in the bilateral relationship, cooperation at defense and security level can leverages other forms of cooperation. The circumstances and relational balance between Brazil and Portugal seem to evolve towards distancing opportunities, despite they are culturally and institutionally untainted. The economic dynamics, the strategic projection in global sustainability terms, the scale and ambition of Brazilian regional leadership, contrasts with the actual context of Portugal, distancing himself both on the stage where they operate. On the other hand, the historical and cultural roots, the language, the affinity of the peoples of CPLP and some opportunities for economic niches, trend to attract both countries. The condition of Portugal in NATO and Europe, coupled with the ability to export technical and human resources to value-added for Brazil, seems also to become approaching factors. On the balance of these dynamics, there is a set of exogenous factors (economic, external global relations matrix, regional stability, among others), which are not always controlled by any of both countries. These factors call for strong capacity for foresight analysis and decision making, with the inherent risk. There is cooperation vectors that are not apparently penalized by geographic distance, or by the difference of realities. Among these vectors we shall highlight synergies in technological niches, highly tradable goods and, mostly, using the domain of dual technologies. The thirteen niches herein identified are: Monitoring, Navigation, Command and Control, Electronics, Optoelectronics, Communication and remote sensing, Information Technologies, Flight Simulation, Specialized Training, Fiber Optic Sensors, Materials Engineering, Nanotechnology and Communications. Cumulating with identified opportunities in traditional relational framework, both countries are growing (in geography and economic terms) into the Atlantic, making it a central element in the bilateral approach. By being at the same time a growing stage of disputes and which stability tends to be threatened, it will be done an analysis of these synergistic vectors, superimposed on the impact on Atlantic securitization process.

Guarda prisional: força de segurança ou agente responsabilizador?

A permanently changing occidental society framework, simultaneously, to a world Globalization and a market liberalization, requires to know how important and which role the agents plays, in Estates representation, to guarantee their own intern security. Portugal is an example of that since has been integrated in European and world politics that allowed the borders opening, with all the negative consequences of that kind of measures. In way to struggle with those debilities emerge, in our Juridical Order, several security forces such as Prison Guards Corporation, whose contribute to intern security seems undefined and confuse, being urgent legislation in way to describe and clearly define their goals and functions. We begin with a brief history view to understand the evolution, focusing on the present moment, correlate several laws in way to clarify their juridical situation. Using a own critical sense, it draws attention to legislation lack problem in opposition to the conclusion that, Prison Guards Corporation is a security force with specialized expertise in matter and territory fields. Their activity occurs, generally, in penitentiaries where people see themselves without their freedom, legally determinated and confined to places as other individuals with deviant behaviors that deserve society refutation, establishing a separation period having rehabilitation as a goal – it is called general and special prevention. Penitentiaries specificities requires specially police force because penitentiaries are places where tensions are often, both between inmates and against employees, above all prison guards, the first to struggle inmates daily frustrations. In way that institutions achieve their purpose, it is necessary that citizens respect all the rules, although, to their efficacy is necessary to inflict punishment to those who did not respect the rules. Furthermore, it will be indispensable to act immediately in situations as impeding runaway helping, illegally standing in jail and to avoid violent acts against personal and patrimonial belongings. Juridical Order has a few security tools that are available to administration, in which is included coercive methods, that as damaging to citizens in whom they are use, are restricted, unavoidably, to inflexible control rules. Concluding, Prison Guards and Penitentiaries General Direction last goal is to give back recovered inmates to society, in a way to conduct their lives responsibly, without committing crimes.

A liberalização do mercado energético e o papel das entidades reguladoras

The liberalisation of the energy market goes back to the 1990s, when it was impelled by the European legislator. Since then, three legislative packages, temporarily successive, were approved. Those packages contained the measures to be implemented in order to deepen the internal energy market. Besides the opening up of several national markets to competition, the European legislator aimed the creation of a real internal energy market within the European Union. The unbundling regime was one of the most important steps with respect to the liberalisation process. The introduction of these rules ensured independence to the various market operators. A real and effective right of choice was granted to the consumers so they may choose their electricity and natural gas supplier. Therefore, the activity of comercialisation is subject to competition. However, some activities of the electricity’s and natural gas’ chain of value, namely the activities of transportation and distribution, were kept under regulation rules. Even though it may seem odd, the assignment of important competences and strong powers to a regulatory authority was essential in order to achieve the liberalisation process’ goals. Electricity and natural gas are essential public goods; therefore the market operators are legally bound to public service obligations, such as the security, the universality and the continuity of the supply. The performance of these obligations may become, in some cases, unprofitable for those operators. For such reason, the protection of the consumers’ rights shall only be properly defended if there is a regulatory authority that monitors the behaviour of the operators and sanctions the failure to comply with the public service obligations. Portugal, as a Member State of the European Union, transposed into the national legal order the European directives concerning the liberalisation process. This transposition has caused radical changes to the electricity and natural gas’ national markets. The Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos also suffered various mutations in order to keep up with the regulatory demands regarding the liberalisation process.