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Simplex urban planning law approved

This law aims to simplify urban planning licensing procedures. It has now been published and comes into force on March 4th.

11 Jan 2024 min of reading

Simplex urban planning law approved

This law aims to simplify urban planning licensing procedures. It has now been published and comes into force on March 4th.

On January 4, the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, promulgated the government's new law reforming and simplifying urban licensing procedures, the so-called Simplex for urban planning, published this Monday in the Diário da República.
It comes into force on March 4.
In a note published on the Presidency's website, it can be read that “with the government having submitted a new version that significantly reduces the most controversial issues of the law, which are now limited to simplifications with direct repercussions on the promotion of more housing, a matter of great priority, the President of the Republic, awaiting the announced future Construction Code, has promulgated the government law that reforms and simplifies urban planning licensing”.

This law is part of the “More Housing” program and was approved by the Council of Ministers in October.
The government thus proposes to eliminate “dispensable or redundant licenses, authorizations, acts and procedures in matters of urbanism, land use planning and industry, simplifying the activity of companies”, reads the explanatory memorandum to Bill 77/XV.

Among the new features of this Simplex are:

The elimination of the need for urban planning licensing, “creating, for this purpose, new cases of prior communication, exemption and waiver of prior control”. For example, works that increase the number of floors will not need to be licensed, as long as the façade is not altered;
Works promoted by companies in the state business sector, municipal or inter-municipal companies relating to the installation of public services, namely for housing, including student residences (among others), will be exempt from urban planning licenses “or other acts of prior control”;
A system of tacit approval for building permits is approved. If decisions have not been taken within the required timeframe, individuals can carry out the desired project;
The building permit is eliminated, replaced by a receipt for payment of the fees due;
The inclusion of bidets in bathrooms is no longer compulsory;
It is no longer necessary to obtain an opinion “from the competent cultural heritage authority in various situations”, such as works inside real estate, as long as there is no impact on the subsoil, or conservation works outside or for the installation of advertising hoardings, signs, awnings, etc.

The Simplex also creates an Electronic Platform for Urban Planning Procedures, which from January 5, 2026 will be “mandatory for municipalities”.
We are now awaiting the creation of the Construction Code, already under development, which will bring together more than 100 laws into a single statute, allowing for “the codification of legislation applicable to construction and a reduction in the length, dispersion, fragmentation and complexity of the construction regulatory framework”, according to the housing ministry.

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