Notaries Can Issue Apostilles in Portugal From 1 January 2027, Giving Residents a Second Route Beside the Prosecution Service

From 1 January 2027, a document that needs an apostille before it can be used abroad will no longer have to go through the prosecution service. Portugal's notaries, and the staff authorised to perform notarial acts in their offices, will be able to issue apostilles and to verify ones already issued, through an online platform run by the Ordem dos Notários (Chamber of Notaries).

The rules are in Portaria n.º 452/2026/1 (Ordinance 452/2026/1), published in the Diário da República (official gazette), Série I, n.º 197, on 12 October 2026. It was signed on 8 October by the Secretária de Estado da Justiça (Secretary of State for Justice), Ana Luísa Machado. The ordinance enters into force the day after publication, but Article 14 says it only takes effect on 1 January 2027.

A power that waited 22 years

The Estatuto do Notariado (Notarial Statute), approved by Decreto-Lei n.º 26/2004, already listed the legalisation of documents by apostille among a notary's powers, on terms to be set by an ordinance from the justice minister. This is that ordinance. Its preamble cites Article 4(4)(i) of the Statute as its legal basis and records that the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (National Data Protection Commission, or CNPD) was consulted. We reported on that consultation in September, when the regulator named five conditions before the platform could open.

An apostille is the certificate, under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, by which a Portuguese authority confirms the signature on a public document, the capacity in which the signatory acted and, where there is one, the seal or stamp. It is what lets a Portuguese birth certificate, diploma or notarial deed be accepted in another country that has signed the Convention without a trip through a consulate.

What the ordinance sets out

• Who can ask. Under Article 5, the person concerned or anyone else carrying the document can request an apostille, in person at any notary's office or online at notarios.pt.
• What notaries cannot apostille. Article 3 excludes acts that come from the Ministério Público (Public Prosecution Service) and from the courts.
• Platform only. An apostille issued by a notary is valid only if it is done through the Ordem's platform.
• Paper or electronic. For a paper document, the apostille form is printed on white paper, signed, stapled to the document and embossed with the office's dry seal. For an electronic document, the apostille and the document form a single PDF/A file of no more than 10 MB, signed with a qualified electronic certificate. A notary can also scan a paper document, at the applicant's request, to issue an electronic apostille (Articles 6 and 7).
• Checking it. Each apostille gets a QR code holding an alphanumeric access code, handed to the applicant straight away. Apostilles are numbered non-sequentially, and anyone can check one on notarios.pt with the QR code, or with the code, number and date.
• Signature checks. The Ordem keeps a register of specimen signatures, stamps and seals of the bodies that issue public documents. Where a notary has no specimen, or the signature or name does not match, the notary must contact the body that issued the document (Article 4).

What it will cost is not fixed

The ordinance sets no price. Article 10 says the fee is charged directly by the notary's office, and that a notary may charge fees under Article 14 of Portaria n.º 385/2004, the notaries' fee table, plus VAT. In the original 2004 text of that ordinance, Article 14 makes acts not otherwise priced "de custo livre", meaning the notary sets the price. Separately, Article 9 lets the Ordem charge notaries a fee for running the platform.

That contrasts with the prosecution service route. Decreto-Lei n.º 86/2009 sets the charge for issuing or verifying an apostille through the Procuradoria-Geral da República (Prosecutor General's Office) at one tenth of a court fee unit, and makes it free for people who prove economic insufficiency. Our apostille guide puts that at €10.20 per document. The new ordinance has no fee waiver of its own.

How the final text compares with the regulator's conditions

The CNPD's opinion asked for, among other things, retention periods for the documents held on the platform, specific encryption standards, a reference to the contracts binding data processors, and protection against scraping and search-engine indexing of the public check. The published text sets one retention period: access logs are kept for two years (Article 13). It names the Ordem as the data controller and requires the platform to have "the necessary security guarantees" against unauthorised access (Article 11), but it names no encryption standard, no processors and no anti-scraping measure.

What this means for immigrants and residents

• Until 31 December, nothing changes. The ordinance has no effect before 1 January 2027. Decreto-Lei n.º 86/2009 gives the issuing and verification of apostilles to the Prosecutor General, who can delegate to regional prosecutors, and the new ordinance does not amend or revoke it. Apostilles for now still go through the Ministério Público; its apostille service page lists the documents covered.
• From January, a second door. Notary offices across the country should be able to apostille public documents such as civil registry certificates, council and parish documents or certificates from state schools, in person or online. Documents issued by the courts or the prosecution service stay with the Ministério Público.
• Ask the price first. With no fixed fee, compare a notary's quote with the prosecution service charge before you choose.
• Still unknown. On 12 October the notarios.pt homepage carried no information on the apostille service, and the ordinance gives no date for the platform beyond 1 January. Whether every office will offer the service from day one is not stated.

For what notaries already do, from certified copies to powers of attorney, see our guide to notaries in Portugal. We will report on the platform once the Ordem publishes how it works.