Calendar
The consolidated timetable, after Act no. 37-A/2026
Act no. 37-A/2026 of 28 July repealed the original transitional regime and replaced it with a staggered timetable. This page gathers every applicable date and flags what remains unconfirmed.
Legislative update of 28 July 2026. Act no. 37-A/2026 established the governance of the RTRI, created its Management Board, repealed Article 19 of Act no. 5-A/2026 and replaced the transitional regime with a staggered timetable. English-language commentary published before that date — including the earlier version of this website — is out of date. See the consolidated calendar.
A repealed provision is still widely cited
Most English-language commentary on Portugal's lobbying law was published between February and July 2026 and cites Article 19 of Act no. 5-A/2026 as the basis for the deadlines. That provision was repealed by Article 9 of Act no. 37-A/2026 on 29 July 2026. The transitional regime is now set out in Article 8 of the latter. If a briefing gives you deadlines based on Article 19, it predates the amendment — and that included the earlier version of this website, corrected in this release and recorded in the imprint.
Timeline
28 January 2026
Act no. 5-A/2026 published
Official Gazette, 1st series, Supplement no. 19.
27 July 2026
Act no. 5-A/2026 enters into force
180 days after publication (Article 21).
29 July 2026
Act no. 37-A/2026 enters into force
Establishes the governance of the RTRI, creates the Management Board and repeals Article 19 of Act no. 5-A/2026. From this date, central government bodies record and publish the hearings they grant by their own means (Article 8(3)).
[September 2026 — to be confirmed]
Notice opening provisional registrations
Once the notice declaring the platform operational in test mode is published, provisional registrations may be filed (Article 8(2)). [The Assembly of the Republic announced publication for September 2026 in its portal notice of 3 August 2026; publication in the Official Gazette was not confirmed as at the date of this page.]
30 November 2026
Public bodies adopt their regulations
General deadline for adopting the regulations governing publication of hearings (Article 8(5)).
1 January 2027
RTRI fully operational
The Management Board — three independent members — takes office, with competence for registration, cancellation and sanctions (Article 8(1)).
2 March 2027
Registration deadline for professionals
End of the 60-day period running from 1 January 2027 for entities professionally representing third-party interests (Article 8(4)).
30 April 2027
Local authorities adopt their regulations
Municipalities, local undertakings and inter-municipal bodies (Article 8(6)).
1 June 2027
Sanctions and local government
The sanctions regime enters into force (Article 8(8)) and the Act extends to municipalities, their local undertakings and inter-municipal bodies (Article 8(6)).
30 November 2027
Parishes adopt their regulations
Article 8(7).
1 January 2028
The Act extends to parishes
Article 8(7).
What a foreign entity should do in each window
| Window | Action | Why now |
|---|---|---|
| Until the notice is published | Determine applicability and category; identify the legal person that must register; gather and validate the Article 5(1) information; build the evidence file. | None of this depends on the platform, and for a foreign group the identification and corporate-documentation work alone takes longer than expected. |
| From the notice to 31 December 2026 | File the provisional registration; designate and publish the person responsible for public institutional relations; adopt and publish the code of conduct. | Provisional registration allows the filing to be tested and corrected before it has definitive effect. |
| 1 January to 2 March 2027 | Convert to definitive registration; obtain the registration number; start stating it in every institutional contact. | Statutory deadline for professional representatives of third-party interests (Article 8(4)). |
| Until 1 June 2027 | Review internal procedures, brief the teams, organise the contractual-relationship record and the conflict-of-interest apparatus. | Last window to correct without exposure to the sanctions regime. |
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