Latest news and stories about regulation in technology in Portugal for expats and residents.
Seguro highlights the need for proactive engagement from Portugal and the European Union in the fields of technology and AI.
The Public Prosecution Service (Procuradoria-Geral da República or PGR) has prohibited magistrates from using artificial intelligence to predict the probability of conviction or the risk of recidivism among defendants. The new rule mandates that AI tools may only serve as auxiliary instruments and cannot be used to generate automated profiles for suggesting coercive measures.
The Ministério Público (Public Prosecution Service) is Portugal's independent state prosecution body, responsible for leading criminal investigations, bringing charges, and representing the public interest in court.
The MP operates autonomously from the government and the police, though it directs criminal investigations carried out by the Polícia Judiciária, PSP, and GNR. It is led by the Procurador-Geral da República (Attorney General), who is appointed by the President on the government's proposal.
The MP gets involved in high-profile cases including corruption, financial crime, and incidents of potential institutional negligence. It also defends the legality of government actions and protects citizens' fundamental rights through the courts.
The National Cybersecurity Centre (Centro Nacional de Cibersegurança or CNCS) reported 3,864 security incidents in 2025, a 40% increase over the previous year. Coordinator Lino Santos noted that human factors, such as phishing, account for roughly half of these cases, which include harassment, stalking, and digital scams.
The National Cybersecurity Center (Centro Nacional de Cibersegurança or CNCS) is the government agency responsible for promoting and coordinating cybersecurity across Portugal. It monitors digital threats, provides guidance to citizens and businesses on protecting data, and manages the national response to significant cyber incidents.
The government has introduced the National Data Center Plan (Plano Nacional de Centros de Dados or PNDC) to position Portugal as a European hub for digital infrastructure. The strategy aims to simplify complex regulations and address fragmented oversight to attract more investment. While the sector welcomes the guidelines, industry experts warn that the success of the initiative depends on effective execution.
The National Data Centre Plan (Plano Nacional de Centros de Dados or PNDC) is a government strategy introduced in March 2024 to attract investment in digital infrastructure. It establishes guidelines for developing data centers to strengthen Portugal's position as a hub for technology and cloud services in Europe.
The Portuguese Tax Authority is leveraging new technology to streamline the calculation of the location coefficient for Municipal Property Tax (IMI), impacting property valuations based on local infrastructure and services.
The National Data Protection Commission is urging Parliament to expedite legislative amendments to address severe staffing shortages that are currently preventing the enforcement of fines for personal data breaches.
The mandatory implementation of two-factor authentication for the Direct Social Security portal has been postponed from May 12th to May 16th due to technical issues with access code delivery.
Police forces state that crimes such as grooming and child pornography are on the rise. Experts advocate for limits on social media, but admit that banning it alone does not solve the problem.
A hacker has reportedly stolen one million customer records from CTT's Locky locker service, prompting the company to confirm the breach and offer support to affected users.
The President has enacted a decree to transpose European regulations on digital services, establishing a single market framework that mandates service providers to address illegal content and increase transparency regarding recipients.
The European Commission is reviewing a joint request from Portugal, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Austria to implement a windfall tax on energy company profits, acknowledging the proposal while distinguishing current market conditions from the 2022 energy crisis.
Over 2,400 organisations are warning of severe child protection risks following the expiration of the European legal framework for monitoring online child sexual abuse.
The European Union is moving to regulate financial influencers on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to mitigate risks associated with digital financial advice.
The Tax Authority has clarified that while employee stock plans can qualify for reduced IRS taxation, eligibility is contingent upon rigorous documentation and strict adherence to regulatory requirements, with no advance confirmation provided.
The rise of 'bossware' for employee monitoring is becoming common globally, despite questionable productivity benefits and strict legal restrictions in countries like Portugal.
The Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) reports that most of the 4,000 notified companies are actively addressing gender pay gaps, with only 100 sanctions issued for non-compliance to date.
Portugal faces criticism for its vulnerability to spam and online scams, prompting calls from Anacom, the Cybersecurity Alliance, and Deco for legislative reform and enhanced consumer protection measures.
In early November, the Portuguese Government approved a new cybersecurity law that will come into effect in April. This law implements the NIS2 Directive (EU) 2022/2555, aiming to enhance digital resilience in the country and ensure compliance with European standards. It introduces significant penalties for non-compliance, including million-euro fines, and imposes stricter responsibilities on organizations to protect their digital infrastructure, thereby addressing reputational risks associated with cybersecurity breaches.
Europe can only realise its AI ambitions by ramping up investment not just in compute and networks but in trusted, advanced connectivity. Success depends equally on policy — harmonised rules, interoperable standards, cross‑border data governance and targeted financing — alongside technology, infrastructure, skills and public‑private partnerships to accelerate deployment and adoption.
Caixa Geral de Depósitos has updated its code of conduct to introduce explicit AI guardrails, mandating human review of content produced by artificial intelligence to mitigate algorithmic bias. The move highlights a growing focus on governance and accountability in financial services, while underscoring that many companies still rely on internal policies that are not formalised within their codes of ethics. The change has implications for compliance, consumer protection and how banks integrate AI responsibly into products and communications.
The measure was approved during the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg.
Seguro argues that Portugal and the European Union must take an active stance on the development and regulation of artificial intelligence.
Seguro argues that Portugal and the European Union must take an active stance on the development and regulation of artificial intelligence.
Seguro states that Portugal and the European Union must take an active stance regarding artificial intelligence.
At the Diário de Notícias annual conference, the President of the Republic warned that countries that do not integrate new technologies will remain as “mere consumers”.
António Costa e Silva advocates for “intelligent doses” of AI regulation, stressing that innovation remains essential. Speaking at the DN Grand Conference, the former Minister of Economy joined other experts to discuss the ethics and geopolitics of AI. Key takeaways included the urgent need to develop AI models in Portuguese to support Lusophone communities, the challenge of regulating rapidly evolving technology, and the strategic importance of Portugal competing through speed rather than scale. Participants also highlighted the necessity of feeding AI systems with high-quality Portuguese data to ensure inclusivity.
An analysis of the growing role of artificial intelligence in the banking sector and the resulting challenges regarding accountability and legal liability.
A Bavarian court has ruled that Google is directly responsible for the content and accuracy of summaries in search results that the company compiles using artificial intelligence. The court also ordered the world's most used search engine to stop damaging the reputation of two companies through those same summaries.
“The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance,” Anthropic said in a statement Friday evening.
Washington's export controls on Anthropic spark renewed calls for Europe to accelerate development of its own cutting-edge AI models.
Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are no longer accessible to all users after US authorities banned their use by foreigners.
While Europe is already applying a version of AI rules, the United States is preparing its first major federal law for the sector. What is at stake and what impact could it have on the future of technology?
