Paying or Contesting a Traffic Fine in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You have received a traffic fine notice in Portugal, by post or from the police at the roadside.
• You drive here on Portuguese or foreign plates and want to know how fines work.
• You were not driving when the offence happened and need to name the real driver.

Not for you if: you want to know how many points you lose and what happens to your licence balance. Read How the Driving Licence Points System Works in Portugal instead.

When you get a traffic fine notice in Portugal, you have 15 working days to act. In that time you can pay the minimum fine, send a written defence, name the real driver, or ask to pay in instalments. Paying the minimum within 15 working days costs nothing extra. Paying later adds costs of at least €52.50. The road safety authority (ANSR, Autoridade Nacional de Segurança Rodoviária) handles most cases. For serious and very serious offences, paying does not end the case: ANSR still decides on a driving ban.

Who sends traffic fines

Road traffic fines (coimas) are administrative fines, not criminal penalties. The case is called a contraordenação.

• ANSR runs most cases and decides the fine and any driving ban. This includes cases from police stops and from speed cameras.
• The police (GNR and PSP) stop drivers, write the notice on the spot, and help ANSR. You can deal with your case in person at their offices.
• Councils (câmaras municipais) handle light parking offences in their own car parks and streets. For these, follow the instructions on the notice, not ANSR's.

Light, serious, and very serious offences

Every offence is light (leve), serious (grave), or very serious (muito grave). The class matters more than the amount:

• Light: a fine only.
• Serious: a fine plus a driving ban (inibição de conduzir) of 1 month to 1 year.
• Very serious: a fine plus a driving ban of 2 months to 2 years.

Each offence has its own fine range in the Highway Code. For example, using a phone while driving costs €250 to €1,250 and is a serious offence. Serious and very serious offences also cost licence points.

How you are notified

You can be notified in three ways:

• In person, when the police stop you.
• By registered letter with proof of receipt, sent to your tax address.
• By ordinary letter, if the registered letter is not collected. It counts as received on the fifth day after it was sent.

If you have signed up for the state's digital mailbox service (morada única digital), the notice can arrive there instead.

For driving offences, the letter goes to your tax address as held by the tax office (Finanças). For camera fines, that is the tax address of the person the car is registered to. If your tax address is out of date, you can miss the deadline without knowing. Keep it current.

If the police stop you and you refuse to take or sign the notice, it counts as delivered anyway.

Your options within 15 working days

The 15 working days start on the day you are notified. Choose one of these:

1. Pay the minimum fine. Follow the payment instructions on the notice. For a light offence, the case then closes with no extra costs.
2. Send a written defence. Write in Portuguese, with up to three witnesses and any other evidence. ANSR has a form (F305).
3. Name the real driver, if it was not you. Use ANSR's form (F306). Do not pay the fine. The person you name will get their own notice.
4. Ask to pay in instalments, if the minimum fine for the offence is €210 or more. Use form F303.
5. For a serious offence, ask to suspend or reduce the driving ban. Use form F302.

You can send any of these:

• through ANSR's online Portal das Contraordenações, logging in with your citizen card or digital mobile key (Chave Móvel Digital);
• by email to [email protected], if the document is signed with a certified citizen card signature;
• by registered post to ANSR, Avenida de Casal de Cabanas, n.º 1, 2734-507 Barcarena;
• in person at the PSP district command or GNR traffic unit where you live.

You do not need a lawyer, either for the defence or for a later court appeal.

The 48-hour deposit

You can also pay a deposit equal to the minimum fine within 48 hours of being notified. A deposit keeps your right to defend yourself. If you win, it is paid back.

If the police notify you at the roadside, you must pay the deposit at once or within 48 hours. If you do not, they can hold your driving licence or the car's papers and give you a temporary replacement. Replacements last six months and can be renewed.

If you pay a deposit and send no defence within the 15 working days, the deposit becomes payment of the fine.

Paying late, and what it costs

You can still pay the minimum fine after the 15 working days, at any time before ANSR decides. But you also pay costs, of at least €52.50. ANSR cannot extend the 15-day deadline.

If ANSR decides against you, the decision tells you what to pay. You have 15 working days from when the decision becomes final to pay the fine and costs. If you do not pay, ANSR issues a debt certificate and the case goes to court for enforcement.

Instalments

You can ask to pay in monthly instalments if the minimum fine for the offence is €210 or more. The rules are:

• Each instalment must be at least €50.
• The plan can last 12 months at most.
• You can ask at any stage until the case goes to court for enforcement.
• If you miss one instalment, the whole amount falls due at once.

Ask ANSR with form F303. The tax office does not handle traffic fines.

Contesting a fine

A defence is worth considering when:

• you face a serious or very serious offence, and so a driving ban;
• someone else was driving (name them with form F306 instead);
• the notice has errors, or the facts in it are wrong;
• you need the camera photo, which you can request with form F304.

Put all your arguments and evidence in the written defence. ANSR does not hold a hearing with you. If you name witnesses, ANSR tells you when and where they will be heard, and you must bring them. There is no set time for ANSR to decide.

Asking to see the file or the speed photo. If you ask to see the file during the 15 days, the time limit for your defence stops running while you wait. The same applies if you ask for the speed camera photo and it did not come with the notice.

If you lose. You can appeal to court. The appeal must be in writing, sent to ANSR within 15 working days of learning of the decision. If you cannot afford a lawyer, see Applying for Legal Aid in Portugal.

Driving bans

For serious and very serious offences, ANSR applies a driving ban in the same decision as the fine. The ban covers all motor vehicles. ANSR sets the length based on the circumstances, your fault, and your driving record.

Suspending a ban. ANSR can suspend a ban only for a serious offence, and only once the fine is paid:

• With no serious or very serious offence and no road crime in the last five years, the suspension lasts 6 months to 1 year.
• With one serious offence in the last five years, it lasts 1 to 2 years, on condition that you take a training course.

For very serious offences, a ban cannot be suspended. It can only be reduced. Ask for either within the 15 working days, with form F302. A suspension is cancelled if you commit another serious or very serious offence while it runs.

Serving a ban. When a ban is final, you are told to hand in your licence within 15 working days. Not handing it in is a crime of disobedience. Driving while banned is also a crime.

Speed cameras

Fixed and mobile speed cameras, including average-speed cameras, form a national network (SINCRO) that sends offences to ANSR. ANSR publishes fixed camera locations on its Radares à Vista site. Camera fines arrive by post. If the photo is not with the notice, you can ask for it with form F304.

When a fine expires

A traffic case expires two years after the offence. Being notified of the decision fining you restarts this clock. There is an outer limit of three years. Once a decision is final, the fine and any ban expire two years later. Expiry is not automatic: you must raise it. See When a Debt Expires in Portugal.

Unpaid tolls are separate

Unpaid motorway tolls are not traffic fines from ANSR. If your car has Portuguese plates, you can pay a missed electronic toll within 15 working days at a CTT post office, a Payshop agent, or with a Multibanco reference. After that, pay the toll operator directly. Not paying a toll is an offence, with a fine of at least five times the toll and never less than €25. See Paying Tolls and Using Via Verde in Portugal.

Foreign plates and fines from abroad

EU countries share vehicle registration data to trace drivers for eight offences. These are speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, running a red light, drink driving, drug driving, not wearing a helmet, using a forbidden lane such as a bus lane, and using a phone while driving. So a fine for a car on foreign EU plates can reach the owner at home. Portuguese cars can be traced in the same way after an offence elsewhere in the EU.

If you drive a hired car, the hire company may be asked to name you as the driver.

Practical reminders

• Open every registered letter. If you do not collect it, an ordinary letter follows, and that counts as received after five days.
• Keep your tax address up to date with Finanças, so notices reach you.
• Read the class of offence on the notice. Serious and very serious offences mean a possible driving ban.
• Act within 15 working days. It is the cheapest way out, and the deadline cannot be extended.

For questions about a case, email ANSR at [email protected]. ANSR has no public counter; in-person help is at the GNR and PSP.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

• ANSR, frequently asked questions: https://www.ansr.pt/perguntas-frequentes (15 working days, no extra costs if paid on time, €52.50 minimum costs and UC of €105, no extension, light offences closed on payment, serious and very serious continue for the ban, instalments from €210 with €50 minimum over 12 months up to court enforcement and form F303, deposit within 48 hours, document seizure and six-month replacement guides, notification methods, no lawyer needed, defence form F305 and channels, driver identification form F306, no hearing, no deadline for decision, file and photo request form F304 suspending the defence deadline, 15 working days to appeal, ban lengths and factors, suspension conditions and form F302), checked 2 October 2026
• ANSR, contact about offences: https://www.ansr.pt/contraordenacoes/contacto-sobre-contraordenacoes ([email protected], in-person service at GNR and PSP, no ANSR counter), checked 2 October 2026
• ANSR, Portal das Contraordenações: https://portalcontraordenacoes.ansr.pt/ (online defence, instalments, and case view), checked 1 October 2026, carried from verified guide W2A-03
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, Código da Estrada (Decreto-Lei n.º 114/94, de 3 de maio), consolidated: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=349&tabela=leis (article 84 phone fine €250 to €1,250; 136 offence classes; 138 driving while banned is a crime; 145 serious offences; 147 ban lengths; 160 licence handed in within 15 working days; 169 ANSR competence, councils for parking, SINCRO camera network; 171 naming the driver; 172 voluntary payment; 173 deposit; 175 options within 15 working days, three witnesses, Portuguese, instalments from 2 UC; 176 notification and tax address, ordinary letter fifth day, refusal; 181 appeal within 15 working days; 183 instalments; 185-A debt certificate and court enforcement; 188 and 189 two-year prescription), checked 2 October 2026
• EUR-Lex, summary of Directive (EU) 2015/413 on cross-border exchange of information on road safety offences: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/road-traffic-offences-sharing-information-between-countries.html (eight offences, access to vehicle registration data), checked 2 October 2026
• Infraestruturas de Portugal, PT Tolls FAQ: https://www.pttolls.com/en/faq-frequently-asked-questions (post-payment within 15 working days for Portuguese plates, fine of at least five times the toll and never under €25), checked 1 October 2026, carried from verified guide W2B-14
• Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, General Regime of Administrative Offences (Decreto-Lei n.º 433/82), consolidated: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=166&tabela=leis (article 28 outer limit of the period plus half, three years for road offences), checked 2 October 2026, carried from verified guide W2E-39

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.