New legal provisions have been approved introducing gender quotas pursuant to attaining balanced representation between women and men in the director and supervisory bodies of public sector companies and listed companies. (Law 62/2017, August 1)
Public sector companies
- The proportion of members of any gender appointed for director and supervisory bodies of each company must represent at least 33.3% as from 1 January 2018. This applies to new office nominations (or reinstatements), but does not require changes to be made to mandates in progress on January 1, 2018 (article 4);
- Non-compliance of the minimum thresholds causes the appointment act in the case of director and supervisory bodies of entities (companies) in the public sector to be null and void (article 6).
Listed companies
- The proportion is subject to a minimum of 20% from the first elective general meeting after 1 January 2018 and to 33.3% from the first elective general meeting after 1 January 2020. This applies to the renewal and replacement of mandates, but not to mandates in progress (article 5);
- Non-compliance of the minimum thresholds determines a non-compliance declaration by the Portuguese Securities Market Authority and causes the appointment act to qualify as merely provisional (article 6).