The legal protection established by the Convention cannot be waived by the legislator and its contents must be disclosed to and complied with by the governing bodies. The most important issue is the analysis of the effects of the Court’s judgments, since this procedural guarantee is largely dependant on the effects that the decisions of international institutions may produce in the Portuguese legal system. The Court’s judgments are not enforceable in Portugal and do not have a constitutive effect. Even though, Portugal shall take all the necessary measures to enforce the rights granted by the Convention to each private individual. The Portuguese legislator was aware of this and, as a consequence, stated that the issuance of a judgment by the Court may compel the Portuguese Republic to review the contents of a decision of a Portuguese jurisdictional body. In regard with the violations occurred through a normative act, it is our conviction that Portugal is compelled to modify the non-conforming national provisions due to the duty of conforming the national legislation with the Convention impending on the High Contracting Parties.
