Septic Tank Rules in Portugal
The 20 metre connection rule, sealed tanks versus infiltration, who is allowed to empty yours, and fines up to 3,740 euros.
Legal
Missing Documents and 'Absence of Legal Requirements': the IRN Names What Sits Behind 3,312 Preliminary Nationality Refusals
The refusal notices are draft decisions, and applicants have 30 days to answer in writing. Behind them sits a law in force since May whose regulation has missed its legal deadline, leaving the means-of-subsistence test with no published threshold and no list of acceptable documents.
A 25 Percent Ceiling on What Uber and Bolt Keep: Portugal's Rewritten Ride-Hailing Law Lands in the Official Gazette
Lei n.º 59/2026 was published on Tuesday and takes force on 1 November. It caps the platform's commission at 25 percent of the fare before VAT, bars platforms from owning cars or operators, puts a QR code on the windscreen sticker, and makes in-car video opt-in for both sides.
Two Olhao Police Officers Go on Trial on 8 September Over the Death of a Handcuffed Man
The Ministerio Publico charged the two PSP agents in July 2025 with sequestro and homicide. Aissa Ait Aissa died of a brain contusion 20 days after being beaten on a track at Pechao, outside the officers' patrol area, while handcuffed. The Tribunal de Faro sits on 8, 11 and 25 September.
Portugal's Funiculars, Trams and Historic Lifts Move Under One Safety Regulator, a Year After the Gloria Disaster
President Seguro promulgated the decree-law on Monday. It covers metro and light metro, classic and modern trams, tourist light rail, and the lifts and funiculars that entered service before 1 January 1986. The IMT licenses the activity; the AMT takes safety certification and enforcement.
Hunting Season in Portugal
The 78 percent of the mainland inside a hunting zone, the Thursday and Sunday rule, the 250 metre ring round your house, and banning shooting on your own land.
Portugal Has Deleted 'Obstetric Violence' From Its Own Law, and With It the Fines for Routine Episiotomies
Lei n.º 57/2026, published on Monday and in force today, rewrites the 2025 law and drops the phrase it was famous for. The hospital funding penalties and the disciplinary inquiry go with it, replaced by a discretionary audit and a duty to publish episiotomy and caesarean rates by hospital.