The Portuguese Government has recently felt the need to catch the bandwagon of simplifying business transactions and cor porate life through various amendments to commercial legislation, which entered in force on 30 June, 2006.

The declared aim is to simplify business life. However, behind all the hype that has been created around cutting red tape and closing the gap to more sophisticated legal environments, there also lurk some pitfalls that businesses disregard at their peril.