PortugalDecree-Law 82/2022, accessibility requirements and duties of manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors of products
In force since .
An accessibility requirements rule binding public and private bodies.
What it requires
- If you manufacture a product listed in Article 2(1) of Decreto-Lei 82/2022, design and make it to the accessibility requirements of Sections I and II of Annex I to Portaria 220/2023 (Section I only for a self-service terminal), from (Art. 7(1), Art. 39(1); Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 4(2)).
- Draw up the technical documentation, apply the conformity assessment procedure of Annex I to the Decree-Law, draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking (Art. 7(2)(a) and (b)); keep the technical documentation and the declaration for five years after placing the product on the market (Art. 7(2)(c)).
- Keep procedures that maintain the conformity of series production, identify the product by type, batch or serial number, show your name, registered trade name or mark and contact address, and supply Portuguese-language instructions and safety information (Art. 7(2)(d) to (g)).
- If you place a non-conforming product on the market, take the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity or withdraw it, inform the competent authorities of the Member States where you made it available, and keep a register of non-conforming products and of the related complaints (Art. 7(2)(h)); give the market surveillance authorities the information and documentation they ask for, in Portuguese among other languages, and cooperate with their actions (Art. 7(2)(i) and (j)).
- If you are an authorised representative, keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation available to the authorities for five years, supply the information and documentation they ask for, and cooperate with their actions (Art. 8(2)); you do not carry the manufacturer's duty in Art. 7(1) or the technical documentation (Art. 8(3)).
- If you are an importer, place on the market only products that conform, after checking that the manufacturer applied the conformity assessment procedure, drew up the technical documentation, affixed the CE marking and met the identification, name and Portuguese-language requirements; keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity for five years (Art. 9(1) and (2)).
- If you are an importer, refrain from placing a non-conforming product on the market until it conforms and inform the manufacturer and the authorities (Art. 9(3)); Art. 7(2)(h) to (j) also apply to you (Art. 9(4), as corrected by Declaração de Retificação 5/2023).
- If you are a distributor, before making a product available verify the CE marking, the Portuguese-language documents, instructions and safety information, and the manufacturer's and importer's marking; refrain from placing a non-conforming product on the market, take corrective measures, and cooperate with the authorities (Art. 10).
- If you place a product on the market under your own name or mark, or modify it so that conformity may be affected, you carry the manufacturer's duties (Art. 11).
- On request of the market surveillance authorities, identify the operators that supplied you and those you supplied for at least five years (Art. 12).
- Cooperate with the market surveillance authorities, in particular by giving them access to your premises, and supply all the information they need (Art. 20(2)); if the authority finds a formal non-compliance, such as a missing or wrongly affixed CE marking, a missing or incorrect EU declaration of conformity or missing technical documentation, end it when ordered, or the product can be restricted, recalled or withdrawn (Art. 23).
- If you rely on the fundamental-alteration or disproportionate-burden defence, assess it yourself, document the assessment and keep the results for five years from the last time the product was made available, and tell the authority of the Member State where the product was placed on the market (Art. 14(2), (3) and (8)); a microenterprise in the products sector does not document the assessment or notify, and supplies the relevant information on request (Art. 14(4), (5) and (9)); the EU declaration of conformity states that the requirements are subject to the exception (Art. 16(1)).
- If you are a microenterprise in the products sector, the Decree-Law applies to you with the lighter documentation and notification rules of Art. 14(4), (5) and (9); the Directive's definition applies: an enterprise which employs fewer than 10 persons and which has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million (Art. 3; Directive (EU) 2019/882, Art. 3(23)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
Article 29(2) of Decreto-Lei 82/2022 sets two tiers for these administrative offences. A serious offence (contraordenação grave) is fined EUR 650 to EUR 1,500 for an individual and EUR 12,000 to EUR 24,000 for a legal person. A very serious offence (contraordenação muito grave) is fined from EUR 2,000 for an individual and from EUR 24,000 for a legal person, up to the ceilings of Decreto-Lei 433/82, the general regime of administrative offences, which Article 17(1) and (2) of that regime fixes at EUR 3,740.98 for an individual and EUR 44,891.81 for a legal person (computed from the two articles). Attempt and negligence are punishable and the minimum and maximum limits are halved (Article 29(6)), so negligent conduct is fined EUR 325 to EUR 750 (individual, serious), EUR 6,000 to EUR 12,000 (legal person, serious), EUR 1,000 to EUR 1,870.49 (individual, very serious) and EUR 12,000 to EUR 22,445.91 (legal person, very serious), the last two ceilings being those Article 17(3) of the general regime states for negligence. Article 29(3) and (4) rank as very serious the placing on the market of a non-conforming product or service and the omission of the Article 14 assessment, and name the further very serious limbs by sub-item, and rank every other limb as serious. Article 29(5) takes recidivism, the number of non-conforming units and the number of persons affected into account in setting the fine. Accessory sanctions under the general regime may be added (Article 29(8)), and the conviction is always published at the offender's expense, in particular in two national newspapers (Article 29(9)). Paying the fine does not release the offender from the omitted duty where it can still be performed (Article 29(7)). The authorities named in Article 28 investigate, and Article 31(2) gives the power to impose fines and accessory sanctions to the heads or top bodies of those authorities. Fine proceeds are shared 40 percent to the State, 10 percent to the authority that records the offence, 30 percent to the authority that conducts the proceedings, 10 percent to the Instituto Nacional para a Reabilitação and 10 percent to the fund supporting persons with disabilities (Article 32). For products, Article 29(4)(b) to (d) rank as very serious, besides the two offences of Article 29(1)(a) and (b): for manufacturers, missing technical documentation, conformity assessment or EU declaration of conformity, failure to keep them for five years, no series-production procedures, no corrective measures or register, and failure to supply information or cooperate (Article 29(1)(c)(i) to (iii), (v) to (vii) and (xi) to (xiv)); for importers, placing on the market without the conformity assessment or technical documentation, storage or transport that impairs conformity, failure to keep or supply the declaration or documentation, placing a non-conforming product, no corrective measures and no cooperation (Article 29(1)(d)(i), (ii) and (ix) to (xiv)); for distributors, storage or transport that impairs conformity, placing a non-conforming product, no corrective measures, and failure to supply information or cooperate (Article 29(1)(e)(vii) to (xi)). The missing CE marking, identification, name and address, and Portuguese-language instructions offences of the three chains are serious (Article 29(3)). Article 6 of Decreto-Lei 23/2011, to which Articles 17 and 28(2)(a) of the Decree-Law refer, separately fines breaches of the CE-marking rules of Article 30 of Regulation (EC) 765/2008, among them refusing documents or access to premises and affixing the CE marking to a non-conforming product, and Article 6(4) of that Decree-Law applies the higher fine where the same conduct is also an offence under the product's own legislation. Article 18(2) of the general regime lets the ceiling rise to the economic benefit drawn from the offence, capped at one third on top of the legal maximum (EUR 4,987.97 for a natural person and EUR 59,855.75 for a legal person as the highest ceilings, computed), and Article 19(2) caps the fine for several offences at twice the highest maximum among them. The accessory sanctions of Article 21 of the general regime include deprivation of the right to take part in public tenders and suspension of licences, for at most two years. The general regime of administrative offences provides no periodic or coercive penalty.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 650
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 44891.81
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
ASAE (Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica) for general-purpose consumer computer hardware that does not work by radio and is not electronic communications equipment, for the operating systems of all such hardware, for payment terminals, ticket machines, check-in machines and interactive self-service information terminals, and for audiovisual-access terminal equipment and e-readers that do not work by radio and are not electronic communications equipment, and for the CE marking and EU declaration under Decree-Law 23/2011; ANACOM for computer hardware that works by radio or is electronic communications equipment (its operating systems excluded), and for electronic-communications terminal equipment and e-readers that work by radio or are electronic communications equipment; municipalities for ATMs, without prejudice to the record of the offence by the security forces; in the Autonomous Regions the regional bodies with analogous competence exercise ASAE's powers (Decreto-Lei 82/2022, Article 28(1)(a), (g) and (h), (2) and (5)).
What it reaches
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
Applicability criteria
- As of
- Combinator
- Any of
- Criteria
- an economic operator (manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor) that places on the market or makes available a product listed in Article 2(1) of Decreto-Lei 82/2022; a microenterprise in the products sector (an enterprise which employs fewer than 10 persons and which has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 2 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million, the definition of Article 3(23) of Directive (EU) 2019/882 to which Article 3 of the Decree-Law refers) is within the Decree-Law and has lighter documentation and notification duties under Article 14(4), (5) and (9)
What this law does
Article 2(1) applies the Decree-Law to general-purpose consumer computer hardware and its operating systems, to payment terminals, ATMs, ticket machines, check-in machines and interactive self-service information terminals, to consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services or to access audiovisual media services, and to e-readers.
Article 2(1)(b)(v) excludes from the interactive self-service information terminals those installed as an integral part of vehicles, aircraft, ships or rolling stock. Article 2(1) of Portaria 220/2023 applies Sections I and II of Annex I to the products, except that self-service terminals meet Section I only, as Article 4(2) of the Directive provides.
Article 7(1) requires manufacturers to ensure that the products they place on the market are designed and made to the applicable accessibility requirements. Article 7(2) requires manufacturers to keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for five years after the product is placed on the market.
Article 7(2) requires manufacturers to give the products a type, batch or serial number and to show their name, registered trade name or mark and contact address, in Portuguese among other languages, on the product, its packaging or an accompanying document. Article 7(2) requires manufacturers to supply the product with clear and intelligible instructions and safety information in Portuguese.
Article 7(2) requires manufacturers of a non-conforming product to take the corrective measures needed to bring it into conformity or withdraw it, to inform the competent authorities of every Member State where it was made available, and to keep a register of non-conforming products and of the related complaints.
Article 8 lets manufacturers appoint an authorised representative in writing, whose mandate covers at least keeping the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation for five years. Article 9(1) allows importers to place on the market only products whose accessibility requirements conform to the Decree-Law.
Article 9(2) requires importers to check that the product comes with Portuguese-language instructions and safety information and to keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity for five years. Article 9(3) requires importers to refrain from placing a non-conforming product on the market until it conforms, and to inform the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities. Declaração de Retificação 5/2023 corrected Article 9(4) so that points h to j of Article 7(2) also apply to importers.
Article 10 requires distributors, before making a product available, to verify that it bears the CE marking and comes with Portuguese-language documents, instructions and safety information. Article 11 treats importers and distributors that place a product on the market under their own name or mark, or modify it so that conformity may be affected, as manufacturers.
Article 12 requires every economic operator in the product chapter to identify, on request of the market surveillance authorities, the operators that supplied it and those it supplied, for at least five years.
Article 14(1) applies the accessibility requirements only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change that fundamentally alters the basic nature of the product or service, or does not impose a disproportionate burden on the economic operators, joining its two limbs with 'ou' (or) where Article 14(1) of the Directive joins them with 'and'.
Article 14(2) requires every economic operator that does not intend to apply the accessibility requirements to carry out its own assessment. Article 16(1) requires the EU declaration of conformity to state that the requirements are subject to the exception where Article 14 is invoked.
The Decree-Law sets no separate rule for an importer or distributor of a product whose manufacturer invokes Article 14: Article 14(2) puts the assessment on each economic operator that does not intend to apply the accessibility requirements, and Article 16(1) has the EU declaration of conformity state the exception. Article 14(4) exempts microenterprises in the products sector from documenting the Article 14 assessment.
Article 14(5) requires those microenterprises, when they invoke Article 14(1), to prepare and supply on request of the market surveillance authorities the relevant information on which the assessment rested. Article 14(9) exempts those microenterprises from the duty in Article 14(8) to inform the authority when they invoke the defence. Article 17 subjects the CE marking to the general principles of Article 30 of Regulation (EC) 765/2008, without prejudice to Decree-Law 23/2011.
Article 19(1) applies to the products Article 14(1) and (2) and points a, b, e and j of Article 14(4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, among other provisions of that Regulation. Those provisions let the market surveillance authorities require documents and information on compliance, require supply-chain information, enter the premises, land or means of transport the economic operator uses for its business, and acquire product samples, including under a cover identity.
Article 20 requires the authorities to impose on the operator, within a period proportionate to the non-compliance, the corrective measures needed, and allows them to require the product's withdrawal from the market. Article 20(2) requires economic operators to cooperate with the market surveillance authorities, in particular by giving access to their premises, and to supply all the information needed.
Article 21(3) requires the authorities to adopt all appropriate provisional measures prohibiting or restricting the making available of the product, withdrawing it or recalling it, if the operator does not take the corrective measures.
Article 23(1) requires the authority to order the economic operator to end a formal non-compliance, such as a CE marking affixed in breach of the rules, a missing CE marking, a missing or incorrect EU declaration of conformity, missing or incomplete technical documentation, or missing manufacturer or importer details, and Article 23(2) requires the authority to restrict, prohibit, recall or withdraw the product if the non-compliance persists.
Article 28(1) names ASAE, ANACOM and the municipalities as the authorities for the products, according to the product and whether it works by radio or is electronic communications equipment. Article 28(2) also entrusts ASAE with verifying compliance with the CE marking and the EU declaration under Decree-Law 23/2011.
Article 6(1) of Decreto-Lei 23/2011, to which Articles 17 and 28(2)(a) refer, makes a breach of the CE-marking rules of Article 30 of Regulation (EC) 765/2008 an administrative offence of its own, including an economic operator's refusal to give the market surveillance authorities documents, information or access to its premises, and Article 6(4) of that Decree-Law applies the higher fine where the same conduct is also an offence under the product's own legislation.
Article 29(1) makes the placing on the market of a non-conforming product, the omission of the Article 14 assessment, and breaches of the detailed duties of manufacturers, importers and distributors administrative offences. Article 29(4) ranks the first two of those offences, and the further sub-items it lists, as very serious. Article 29(6) makes attempt and negligence punishable and halves the minimum and maximum limits.
Article 17 of Decreto-Lei 433/82, the general regime of administrative offences, fixes the ceiling of a fine, where a law does not provide otherwise, at EUR 3,740.98 for an individual and EUR 44,891.81 for a legal person, and at EUR 1,870.49 and EUR 22,445.91 for negligence.
Article 18(2) of the general regime lets the ceiling rise to the economic benefit the offender drew from the offence, capped at one third on top of the legal maximum, which makes the highest ceilings EUR 4,987.97 for a natural person and EUR 59,855.75 for a legal person (computed), and Article 19 caps a fine for several offences at twice the highest maximum among them.
Article 21 of the general regime lists the accessory sanctions Article 29(8) of the Decree-Law lets the authority add, among them loss of objects, deprivation of the right to take part in public tenders, closure of an establishment and suspension of licences, for at most two years. Article 34 lets consumers, alone or with consumer or disability organisations, and those organisations on their behalf, file a complaint with those authorities.
Article 36 makes the Instituto Nacional para a Reabilitação responsible for monitoring the application of the regime and for forwarding to the authorities the complaints addressed to it directly. Article 36(2)(e) has the Instituto Nacional para a Reabilitação publish on its website, from 2026 and by 31 March of each year, an annual report on the application of the Decree-Law that lists, among other things, the economic operators that did not meet the accessibility requirements.
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