Lisbon, July 19, 2026 (Lusa) - The Inspector-General of the Food and Economic Safety Authority (ASAE), Luís Filipe Lourenço, acknowledged on Sunday that there has been a rise in the informal online economy, noting that 25% of inspections target e-commerce.
«We can talk of a rise in the informal economy within digital commerce,» the inspector acknowledged in an interview with Lusa, pointing out that this reflects a «greater number of economic operators in the formal sector of digital commerce», and therefore «there is also a tendency for this to occur in the informal sector».
«Around 25% of the inspections carried out by ASAE are in the digital commerce sector,» said Luís Filipe Lourenço in an interview to mark the ‘Safe2eat' campaign, which aims to raise public awareness of food safety by providing citizens with practical, science-based guidance for making informed food choices.
Luís Filipe Lourenço noted that tackling the informal digital economy «is a far more complex process» and that «it is a challenge to inspect operators who are not based in Portugal», emphasising that these cases require more resources, as it is often necessary to take cross-border action.
«There needs to be much more solid evidence regarding such an operation so that police information can be shared outside our territory. This does not happen as quickly as digital commerce requires, because we [consumers] are just a click away, whereas a website cannot be taken down at the click of a button,» he said.
In such cases, «there is an administrative procedure and a criminal procedure, and consumers are not always aware» of the work carried out by the authorities, he emphasised.
The aim is to prevent fraud and crime, whilst ensuring free competition and safeguarding the rights of economic operators.
«Unfair competition is incompatible with any kind of economy, and we must also protect those who wish to conduct their business and promote their enterprises; this adaptation must be guaranteed,» stated the Inspector-General.
«There is a black economy, there always has been and always will be, which ASAE combats on a daily basis, but there has not actually been a significant increase in the number of cases identified in this regard,» added Luís Filipe Lourenço.
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