Portugal's Prosecutor-General Orders the First Police Force at a Death to Move the Body Itself, in a Directive Meant to End Delays in Removing the Dead

The police force that first answers a call about a death, whether the GNR, the PSP or the Polícia Marítima (Maritime Police), is responsible for getting the body moved and transported, and it cannot hand that duty off by calling in firefighters or an undertaker. That is the core of a directive from Prosecutor-General Amadeu Guerra, published in the Diário da República (the official gazette) on 22 October.

Diretiva n.º 3/2026, signed on 14 October, tells public prosecutors how to read the rules on removing bodies and on deciding when an autopsy can be skipped. Its preamble says "constrangimentos relevantes" (serious difficulties) have been reported in removing and transporting bodies, above all in violent or unexplained deaths where a crime is suspected.

Why bodies were left waiting

The Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR, the Prosecutor-General's Office) gives two causes. Third parties asked to help with transport have been slow or have not helped enough. And police forces have disagreed over who is responsible, "designadamente na articulação entre a Polícia de Segurança Pública e a Polícia Judiciária" (in particular between the PSP and the Polícia Judiciária, the criminal investigation police). The problem is sharpest when the force that reaches the scene is not the one that will investigate the crime.

Those disputes, the directive says, can delay removal and break the chain of custody of evidence, which has to be protected from the place where the body is found to its delivery to the forensic medicine services.

What the directive settles

• The first police force on the scene owns the job. Under the 1998 decree on the removal and transport of bodies (Decree-Law 411/98), "police authorities" means only the GNR, the PSP and the Maritime Police. The one that first learned of the death and went to the scene must arrange removal and transport (point 3.6).
• Help does not shift responsibility. Firefighters, forensic or health services and funeral agencies can be asked to help, but the police remain answerable for the custody of the evidence, and may need to escort the body (point 3.7).
• Even when the Polícia Judiciária will investigate, the force at the scene must tell the prosecutor at once, inform the investigating force, preserve the scene, take urgent steps to protect evidence and arrange the transport (point 3.8). Any handover of the scene to the investigating force has to be recorded in the file (point 3.11).
• Problems go up the chain. Where local coordination fails, prosecutors must report it to their superiors and, if needed, to the PGR itself. Coordinating prosecutors in each district may set local rules to speed up removals (points 4.1 to 4.3).

When an autopsy cannot be skipped

Under the law on forensic medical examinations (Law 45/2004), violent deaths and deaths of unknown cause normally lead to an autopsy, unless the clinical information and other evidence allow prosecutors to rule out any suspicion of a crime "com segurança" (safely). The directive sets out how that discretion is used:

• An autopsy cannot lawfully be waived after a work accident or a road accident that caused immediate death (point 1.5, citing article 18, paragraph 2, of Law 45/2004).
• It should not be waived for a death in police custody, or linked to police, prison or military action, or where torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is suspected (point 1.6).
• Cases where the cause of death may only seem clear deserve particular scrutiny, especially after recent medical or surgical treatment or care in an institution (point 1.7).
• Before deciding to skip an autopsy, prosecutors should gather medical records, an external examination of the body and witness accounts "com a máxima urgência" (as a matter of the utmost urgency) (point 1.4).

The work accident rule covers deaths such as those at Quinta do Lago and Porto Covo this autumn, both involving foreign workers. The directive also reminds police to work with the Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho (ACT, the labour inspectorate) after a fatal work accident (point 3.9).

What it means for families

Where there is no autopsy, the body is handed to the people the 1998 decree lists, in this order: the executor of a will, the surviving spouse, a partner who lived with the person as a couple, any heir, any relative, and finally any person or entity (article 3, paragraph 1). If the person who died was not Portuguese, the decree also lets a diplomatic or consular representative of their country act (paragraph 2), which matters when no relative is in Portugal.

Only when the body cannot be handed to any of them does the police force step in to remove it (point 3.2). Where an autopsy is ordered, the police carry the body to the forensic services. The directive does not set a time limit for removal, and it binds prosecutors, not families: it changes no fee, form or deadline that relatives deal with. Our guide to funerals and death registration covers what relatives do next.

The directive also tidies up how death files are recorded. When an autopsy is ordered, the file is opened as an inquiry in a category for deaths with an autopsy, and is reclassified once a specific crime is identified. A waived autopsy is recorded as a death notice, not an inquiry (points 2.1 to 2.3).

Sources: Diretiva n.º 3/2026 of the Prosecutor-General, Diário da República, 2nd series, n.º 205, 22 October 2026; Decree-Law 411/98, articles 3 and 5.