The Council of Ministers approved two draft laws to amend the Portuguese Labour Code regarding collective regulation:

• i. Reducing the deadlines of collective bargaining agreements (CBA).  
• ii. Suspend CBA or any part thereof, temporarily, in a situation of business crisis for market reasons, structural or technological, disasters or other events that severely affected the activity of the company, provided that such action is indispensable to ensure the viability and maintenance of workplaces and with the agreement of the employer and the professional associations.  
• iii. Extension until the end of 2014 of the period of suspension of CBA and clauses of employment contracts entered into force before August 1, 2012, that foresees remuneration for additional work or holiday higher than the provisions of the Labour Code. 

Note that the third amendment to the Labour Code - entered into force on August 1, 2012 -suspend for two years CBA and employment contracts provisions on the matters referred above. After two years without amend the provisions in accordance with the new limits the amounts should be reduced by half. 

Although the draft law now approved prevents the reduction of the amounts, it extends the suspension of the provisions of CBA and employment contracts. This means that the limits provided in the Labour Code shall continue to apply. 

Due to the unenforceability of the provisions agreed through the collective regulation the question now arises - What is the future of the collective labour regulation?