According to an ordinance published in Diário da Republica: “The increase in the deadline will improve one of the most limiting aspects of the current post-payment regime, facilitating the timely realisation of payments by users”, reads decree n.º 60/2022, signed by the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Jorge Delgado, and which takes effect within 30 days from 25 January.

In the text of the diploma, the executive states that the legislation on the electronic identification system of vehicles for the payment of tolls will undergo changes when Directive (EU) 2019/520 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 is transposed, “on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating the cross-border exchange of information on non-payment of road charges in the European Union”.

“The transposition of this directive will impose changes in the whole legislation of the electronic identification system of vehicles for the payment of tolls, whether changes in substance and form, or the updating of some of the nomenclature of the institutional model that framed the electronic identification system of vehicles at the time of its creation, and which is still in force today”, he explains.

However, and “without prejudice to these changes to be made”, the Government understood that there are “some adjustments that can be made immediately, which, without affecting the current operating logic, can represent immediate advantages for users”.

“This is the case, in particular, of the maximum period for payment of toll fees, when the post-payment regime is adopted in road infrastructures that only have an electronic toll collection system”, he said.

“This period, previously set at a maximum of five working days, is now extended to fifteen [15] working days”, he adds.

Thus, under the terms of the amendment to the law, “in road infrastructures that only have an electronic toll collection system, vehicle owners may also pay post-payment tolls, in cash or by equivalent means within 15 working days after passing a vehicle detection point for the purposes of electronic collection”.

Due to the complexity of the collection model and the lack of information, many motorists end up not making payments on time and being faced with fines.