The secretary of state for the sector said that complaints rose from just over 50,000 in 2012 to more than 65,000 in 2014 and that he hoped talks with the sector regulator would help turn the numbers round.


Leonardo Mathias gave the example of the banking sector, where the Bank of Portugal has had a final say on all publicity since 2008 and has to give their agreement or not within 10 days or the banks are free to publish what they like.


The Portuguese central bank assesses over 6,500 adverts and publicity items a year.


Leonardo Mathias acknowledged he wanted to replicate the model for the Telecom industry, where publicity would be pre-screened, but said the process was still on the table.