Filipe de Vasconcelos Fernandes’s book “Special Contribution on the NHS Medical Devices Industry Suppliers”, published by AAFDL Editora, was launched today.

The launching event took place on June 16th and was attended by the author Filipe de Vasconcelos Fernandes (Senior Consultant), Joaquim Pedro Lampreia and Paulo Pinheiro (Partners) and João Gonçalves, General Secretary of APORMED - Associação Portuguesa das Empresas de Dispositivos Médicos [Portuguese Association of Medical Devices Companies], who spoke on the topic of "The sector’s perspective".

Overview

The Special Contribution levied on NHS medical devices industry suppliers (“CEDM”) – created under Law 2/2020, of 31 March 2020 (2020 General State Budget Act) and recently extended and significantly amended by Law 75-B/2020, of 31 December 2020 (2021 General State Budget Act) – is yet another protagonist of an antinomic movement within the Portuguese tax system that has been taking hold in the last decade and already allows alluding to a true Parafiscal State.

As opposed to the ancestral Tax State model, this Parafiscal State model is characterized by a predominance of typically earmarked, decentralized sectoral financing, supported by taxes formally designated as "contribution", but which, in most cases, are much closer to true "third generation" special contributions, or even true hidden taxes.

In this case, the CEDM’s framework sets forth a base fully parameterized by an "ad valorem" criterion under the guise of a “contribution” – NHS entities’ procurement of medical devices, and in vitro diagnostic medical devices and their accessories (...)

Click here to read the book.