Justice Modernised: The New Regime of Online Court Summons and Notifications for Corporate Bodies and Individuals
Danielle Avidago | Immigration Consultant
As the first days of 2025 dawn, a question flits across my mind: who still checks their post box? It’s such an unnatural act for me. But do you know what does feel natural to me—and likely to you as well? Checking my phone as soon as I wake up. Admit it, without fear: barely have we opened our eyes, and already we are plugged into the digital world. I’ll confess, I’m far quicker to check my email inbox than the post box downstairs, as my phone rests conveniently on my bedside table, whereas the post box is near the building’s car park (and guess what… I don’t own a car).
It was with this modern reality in mind, and the overwhelming congestion plaguing courts nationwide, that the government passed the Decree-Law No. 87/2024 of 7 November. In force since 10 November 2024, this decree establishes electronic service of process as the default method for corporate entities and an optional one for individuals. The government has also enacted Decree-Law No. 91/2024, in force since 15 January 2025, which regulates technological solutions and explains in detail how people can contribute to modernising the courts.
To solidify electronic service as the standard in courts, the decree has amended various articles relating to service and notifications across multiple procedural codes, including the Civil Procedure Code, the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Code, the Administrative Courts Procedure Code, and the Labour Procedure Code. The exception to this rule is criminal processes, which still use mail summons and notifications as the default method.
What Companies and Their Representatives Must Do Immediately:
- Register an email address in the Digital Services Area of the Courts, using the Public System of Electronic Notifications.
- Create a unique email address.
For you to register a private company, you should have the business attribute, as the company's representative, or whoever has the quality and powers of a certified proxy, under the terms of article 546 of the Companies Code, approved by Decree-Law 262/86 of 2 September, in its current version, and the ordinance that regulates it.
Once these steps are completed, it will be possible to receive communications, summons, and procedural notifications. Whenever the court, the public prosecutor’s office, or any other adhering public organisation has something to communicate, a notification will be sent to the associated email address.
The all-important question every trainee lawyer in the country will ask once their firm registers on this platform is: When are we considered to have been summoned or notified? Until 10 November 2024, a person was deemed summoned or notified three days after receiving the summons or notification. Now, to expedite judicial processes that have been gathering dust on the judges’ desks, a person is considered summoned upon accessing the summons in their reserved area.
If a corporate entity fails to access it within eight days, a letter is sent to the registered business address, informing them that the summons is available in their reserved area. In such cases, service is deemed complete on the eighth day following the date the summons was made available in the reserved area.
If access only occurs 30 days after the summons, the deadline for submitting a defence begins from the date of access, with the intervening days treated as a delay.
For those corporate entities who still check their post box over their email inbox and do not register on the platform, a “penalty” will be in order: summons will be sent via registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt, at a cost of 1 UC (currently €51.00). This fee is intended to cover the financial, material, human and environmental costs of printing, enveloping and sending the citation. This penalty will only be in force 6 months after the entry into force of Decree-Law No. 87/2024 of 7 November, according to article 17º of this diploma. This means that you, the corporate entity, have until
May 2025 to register and avoid the penalty.
For the Particular(ly Litigious) Individuals:
Registration on the platform for electronic service and notification follows the same procedure, but the timelines—our beloved and feared deadlines—are slightly different:
- If access is not made within 30 days of availability in the reserved area, it is presumed to be refused, and the court proceeds with a summon via an enforcement agent.
- If the individual accesses the summons during this period, the deadline is calculated from the date of access.
If you are not a holder of a NIF (Portuguese Fiscal Identification Number) or a NIPC (Portugal Fiscal Identification Number for Companies), or that information is not available for the court's secretary to access, the court considers that it is impossible to send a summon, notification or any other communication through this electronic route, which leads us back to check our postbox more often according to article 246 paragraph 13 of the Civil Procedure Code.
Because this is an optional procedure for private individuals, no penalty for not registering to receive electronic summons is in order.
Those rules became effective on 10 November 2024 and apply to ongoing cases before that date, except for administrative and fiscal processes, which will only be effective on 15 September 2025.
Electronic summons are the safest way for the courts to make sure that the intended parties will be aware of the judicial process at hand. And if no party can be summoned, the Prosecutor’s Office will be safely summoned to jump in and make sure that this court case takes its smooth and efficient course. The deadline counting mentioned is a manifestation of this new system concern´s to safeguard the right of defence and guarantee that is not compromised.
So, discard your fax machines, because the intention of the courts is for all communications to be conducted electronically, reducing the towering piles of paperwork cluttering clerks’ offices. This measure also reflects the Portuguese courts’ desire to be more transparent and swifter in resolving disputes—a reform we have long awaited. Then why not take an active role in this transformation? If you want to know more about it,
feel free to contact us so we can assist you in taking part in this revolutionary act towards a more efficient and digital justice.
