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Aircraft parked on the apron at a Portuguese airport, with a TAP jet on the taxiway and a PGA regional aircraft at the gate

A Year After It Replaced SEF, the PSP's Border Unit Has Poured Almost 400 Officers Into Airport Queues and Left the Interior Bare

The UNEF turns one today. Its officers' union calls the year 'very turbulent', crediting nearly 400 extra police with clearing the Lisbon airport queues, but warns the regional units meant to inspect immigration inland were never set up.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

An open whitewashed dug well with a stone trough in dry Alentejo montado, surrounded by olive and cork oak trees

Sinking a Water Borehole in Portugal

The 5 horsepower rule, when a prior notification replaces a licence, the 100 metre spacing limit, and the fines for an undeclared well.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

A suburban house on a corner plot in Rio Tinto, Gondomar, on the eastern edge of Porto

Porto and Gondomar Swap Land Along a 34-Point Line, and 135 Homes Wake Up in a Different Municipality

Lei 56/2026 fixes a new Porto to Gondomar boundary at 34 surveyed points, from the Estrada da Circunvalacao down to the Douro. About 135 homes and 16 commercial premises change municipality, ending a process the two councils first agreed in 2012.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

An old whitewashed water well, capped with a metal grille, standing in a cobbled street of Torrao in Alcacer do Sal, Alentejo

Portugal Ring-Fences 23 Alentejo Drinking-Water Boreholes, but Draws the Wider Protection Zones Only Where the Groundwater Is Already Healthy

Sixteen orders published on Thursday drew protection perimeters around 23 boreholes and wells supplying about 9,100 people in Alcacer do Sal, Sines and Santiago do Cacem. Only three delimit the full set of zones, and all three sit over groundwater the state already rates as good.

The Portugal Brief 21 Aug 2026

A small Portuguese apiary at Torres Novas, its hives weighted down with roof tiles among pines and eucalyptus

Keeping Bees in Portugal

The DGAV register, the 1 to 30 September declaration of holdings, moving your hives, and the fines for missing the deadline.

The Portugal Brief 20 Aug 2026

The Palacio Palmela in Lisbon, seat of Portugal's Procuradoria-Geral da Republica (Prosecutor General's Office)

A New Law Lets Judicial Authorities Anywhere in the EU Demand Data Directly From Providers in Portugal, With Fines Reaching 2% of Global Turnover

Lei 55/2026, published on Thursday, transposes the EU e-evidence directive. Production and preservation orders now go straight to a provider's designated establishment or legal representative, ANACOM becomes the central authority and enforcer, and providers have six months to appoint one.

The Portugal Brief 20 Aug 2026

An Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light attack and training aircraft parked on an airfield apron

Portugal Declares a National Public Interest in Assembling Embraer's Super Tucano, and Points at Beja Air Base

The Council of Ministers approved a deliberation on Thursday recognising the national public interest in a final assembly line for the A-29N Super Tucano, naming Air Base No. 11 at Beja as the intended site under conditions. No investment figure or job count has been published.

The Portugal Brief 20 Aug 2026

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