AUTORIDADE SEGURANCA ALIMENTAR E ECONOMICA

Their core work

ASAE is Portugal's national authority for food safety and economic enforcement, responsible for inspecting, testing, and ensuring compliance of products on the Portuguese market. In H2020, they contribute regulatory enforcement expertise to EU-wide coordination actions focused on energy product compliance (eco-design, energy labelling) and food safety governance. Their role is that of a national enforcement body bringing real-world market surveillance experience — product testing, anti-circumvention checks, and standards application — to pan-European regulatory harmonization efforts.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ASAE's H2020 participation began in 2016 with energy product compliance testing (INTAS) and progressively deepened into more sophisticated enforcement areas — from basic standards application to anti-circumvention detection (ANTICSS, 2018) and broader product coverage in EEPLIANT3 (2019). Their most recent project, FOODSAFETY4EU (2021), marks a pivot toward food safety — their other core mandate — suggesting they are now bringing their EU coordination experience back to their food safety mission.

ASAE is expanding from purely energy enforcement into food safety coordination, likely positioning itself as a dual-mandate regulatory partner for future EU projects spanning both domains.

How they like to work

ASAE exclusively participates as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with its role as a national authority contributing enforcement capacity rather than driving research agendas. With 71 unique partners across 28 countries from just 5 projects, they operate in large pan-European consortia typical of CSA-type regulatory coordination actions. This means working with ASAE gives access to a broad enforcement network, but they are unlikely to lead consortium-building efforts.

Despite only 5 projects, ASAE has worked with 71 distinct partners across 28 countries, reflecting the large consortium sizes of EU market surveillance coordination actions. Their network spans nearly all EU member states, giving them broad regulatory contacts across Europe.

What sets them apart

ASAE is one of the few national authorities that combines both food safety and energy product enforcement mandates, making them a rare dual-domain regulatory partner. For consortium builders, they offer direct access to Portugal's enforcement infrastructure — the ability to test products, conduct market inspections, and validate compliance in a real regulatory setting. Their track record in anti-circumvention work (ANTICSS) adds value for projects targeting manufacturer compliance gaps.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EEPLIANT3
  Largest project by funding (EUR 77,842), covering the broadest range of energy products from air conditioners to lamps — represents ASAE's most comprehensive enforcement engagement.
• ANTICSS
  Focused specifically on detecting manufacturer circumvention of energy standards — a specialized enforcement niche that few national authorities explicitly address in EU projects.
• FOODSAFETY4EU
  Marks ASAE's strategic expansion into food safety coordination at EU level, connecting their national food safety mandate with European risk assessment and communication frameworks.