Under Portuguese law, WebOffice, Lda makes the Complaints Book available to consumers, in physical form at its premises and electronically through the official portal.
1. Legal Framework
The Complaints Book is governed by the following legislation:
- Decree-Law no. 156/2005of 15 September — makes it compulsory for every establishment supplying goods or providing services to hold and make available a Complaints Book.
- Decree-Law no. 74/2017of 21 June — creates the Electronic Complaints Book, extending the scope of the physical book.
- Law no. 144/2015of 8 September — sets out the legal framework for consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms.
2. Physical Complaints Book
A physical book is available at WebOffice's premises and you may ask any member of staff for it at any time. The complaint is written in triplicate:
- Original — for the regulatory authority (ASAE)
- Duplicate — for the consumer
- Triplicate — for the business
The business has 15 working days to answer the complaint and send the original to the competent regulatory authority.
3. Electronic Complaints Book
The Electronic Complaints Book lets consumers file a complaint online, without having to travel to the business's premises. The complaint is forwarded automatically to the competent regulatory authority and to WebOffice.
Available at www.livroreclamacoes.pt or through the button at the top of this page.
4. Regulatory Authority
The regulatory authority competent for WebOffice's activity is:
- ASAE — Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica (the Portuguese food and economic safety authority)
- Address: Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca, n.º 73, 1269-274 Lisboa, Portugal
- Phone: +351 217 983 600
- Consumer line: 707 200 178
- Web: www.asae.gov.pt
ASAE receives and examines the complaints filed, and may open administrative offence proceedings whenever it finds a breach of the law.
5. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
In a consumer dispute, the consumer may turn to out-of-court Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, namely the consumer arbitration centres.
For the Porto area, the competent body is:
- CICAP — Centro de Informação de Consumo e Arbitragem do Porto (Porto consumer information and arbitration centre)
- Address: Rua Damião de Góis, n.º 31, 4050-225 Porto, Portugal
- Phone: +351 225 508 349
- Email: cicap@cicap.pt
- Web: www.cicap.pt
For online disputes (e-commerce), consumers may also use the European ODR — Online Dispute Resolution.
6. Personal Data and the CNPD
For personal data protection matters, the competent supervisory authority is the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD). See our Privacy Policy for more on how we process your data and how to exercise your rights.
7. Contact Us Directly
Before turning to the Complaints Book, we always encourage you to contact our team directly — we will do our best to resolve any issue quickly and to your satisfaction:
- WebOffice, Lda
- Registered office: Rua Pinto Bessa n.º 522, R/C Esquerdo, 4300-428 Porto, Portugal
- Phone: +351 225 899 800
- Email: info@weboffice.pt
