In an article on the Portuguese banking sector surcharge on branches of foreign credit institutions, Maria do Carmo Leitmann analyses concerns about its unconstitutionality and incompatibility with EU principles.
In this article entitled "Portuguese Banking Sector Surcharge - the end of an era?", recently published by ITR, Morais Leitão tax department associate Maria do Carmo Leitmann states "[...] the Advocate General (AG) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has confirmed what many Portuguese branches of foreign credit institutions have been arguing and discussing before the Portuguese Courts: the ASSB is against the EU principle of freedom of establishment.
Since its implementation, the ASSB has been a hot topic for foreign credit institutions’ branches, who have made their way to Portuguese courts to discuss its illegality (similarly to what they still do regarding the bank levy). One of the grounds raised by the many complaints is that the ASSB violates the freedom of establishment by discriminating against Portuguese branches of non-resident credit institutions.
One of these complaints derived from a Portuguese branch of a French-based credit institution who pleaded that the ASSB is against EU law and, therefore, brought the case to a Portuguese arbitration court. Given the nature of the arguments, the court requested a preliminary ruling from the CJEU. Even though it is not binding, the AG Priit Pikamäe issued his conclusions on July 13 2023 which may provide a sense of a victory for the Portuguese branches of EU credit institutions. […]»
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