PortugalDecreto-Lei n.º 7/2004, Duty to Inform the Public Prosecutor of Criminal Content and to Block Listed Sites within 48 Hours
Decreto-Lei n.º 7/2004, artigos 13.º-A, 19.º-A e 19.º-B
In force since .
A specific illegal content rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Reporting, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- It binds a provider of intermediary network services within the meaning of the Decree-Law (Articles 19-A and 19-B)
- Inform the Ministério Público immediately on becoming aware that content made available through your service, or access to it, may constitute a crime, in particular child pornography, discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence or, where the victim or a third party reports it in a way that helps indicate the conduct, intrusion into sexual or bodily privacy (Article 19-A).
- Block within 48 hours the sites identified as containing child pornography or related material and, on a request by the victim or a third party that helps indicate the conduct, the sites identified as containing intrusion into sexual or bodily privacy or related material, through a transparent procedure with adequate safeguards that limits the restriction to what is necessary and proportionate and tells users the reason (Article 19-B(1)).
- Treat as identified every site on the lists that the competent national and international crime-prevention bodies draw up and communicate to you and to the Procuradoria-Geral da República (Article 19-B(2) and (3)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalty structure
Article 37(4) sets a fine of EUR 5,000 to EUR 100,000 for an intentional omission of the Article 19-A information or the Article 19-B(1) blocking and EUR 2,500 to EUR 50,000 for a negligent one; Article 37(6) raises both limits by one third for a legal person.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The central supervisory entity, ICP-ANACOM (Article 35(2)), which opens and decides administrative offence proceedings (Article 36(2)(d)); the Ministério Público receives the reports under Article 19-A and the Procuradoria-Geral da República receives the blocking lists under Article 19-B(3).
What this law does
Article 19-A of Decreto-Lei n.º 7/2004 requires providers of intermediary network services to inform the Ministério Público immediately on becoming aware of content made available through their services, or access to it, that may constitute a crime. The crimes that Article 19-A names are child pornography, discrimination and incitement to hatred and violence and, where the victim or a third party reports the conduct, intrusion into sexual or bodily privacy.
Article 19-B(1) requires those providers to block, within 48 hours, the sites identified as containing child pornography or related material and, on a request by the victim or a third party that helps indicate the unlawful conduct, the sites identified as containing intrusion into sexual or bodily privacy or related material.
The blocking must follow a transparent procedure with adequate safeguards, limit the restriction to what is necessary and proportionate, and tell users the reason for the restriction. Article 19-B(2) treats as identified every site on the lists that the competent national and international crime-prevention bodies draw up for that purpose. Article 19-B(3) has the bodies that draw up the lists communicate them to the providers and to the Procuradoria-Geral da República.
Article 19-B(4) lets the blocking be challenged before the competent judge under the general rules. Article 13-A lets the competent judicial or administrative authorities order the providers that supply intermediary services to a provider of information society services to give information and to act on illegal content, under Articles 4 and 3 of Lei n.º 12-A/2026 and Articles 10 and 9 of the Digital Services Regulation.
Failing to give the Article 19-A information or to block under Article 19-B(1) is an administrative offence punishable, where the failure is intentional, with a fine of EUR 5,000 to EUR 100,000, and, where it is negligent, with a fine of EUR 2,500 to EUR 50,000. Article 37(6) raises the upper and lower limits of the fine by one third when a legal person commits the infringement.
The central supervisory entity is the ICP - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ICP-ANACOM), and the supervisory entities open and decide administrative offence proceedings. Articles 19-A and 19-B were added to the decree-law by Article 5 of Lei n.º 40/2020 from . Article 3 of Lei n.º 26/2023 amended both articles in their current wording from . Article 33 of Lei n.º 12-A/2026 added Article 13-A from .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform or provides telecom services.