| PORTUGAL Portuguese Republic Republica Portuguesa Joined United Nations: 14 December 1955 Human Rights as assured by their constitution Updated 28 March 2013 |
Section II Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Chapter I Personal Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Article 24 Right to Life
(1) Human life is inviolable.
(2) The death penalty is applicable in no case.
Article 25 Right to Personal Integrity
(1) The moral and physical integrity of the persons is inviolable.
(2) No one may be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or inhuman treatment or punishment.
Article 26 Other Personal Rights
(1) Everyone's right to his or her personal identity, civil capacity, citizenship, good name and reputation, image, the right to speak out, and
the right to the protection of the intimacy of his or her private and family life is recognized.
(2) The law establishes effective safeguards against the abusive use, or any use that is contrary to human dignity, of information
concerning persons and families.
(3) A person may be deprived of citizenship or subjected to restrictions on his or her civil capacity only in cases and under conditions laid
down by law, and never on political grounds.
Article 27 Right to Freedom and Security
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom and security.
(2) No one may be deprived of his or her freedom, in whole or in part, except as a result of a court judgment convicting him or her to a
prison sentence on account of an offense punishable by law, or as a result of judicial application of a security measure.
(3) In the following cases and as a matter of exception, the latter principle does not apply to deprivation of freedom, for the period and
under the conditions laid down by law:
a) Remand in custody, where a person is taken in flagrante delicto or where there is strong evidence that the person has committed a
deliberate offense punishable, at the top of the scale, with imprisonment for over three years; b) The arrest or detention of a person who
has unlawfully entered or stayed in the national territory or against whom extradition or deportation proceedings have been instituted;
c) Disciplinary imprisonment of military, who are guaranteed the right to appeal to the competent court;
d) Subjection of a minor to measures of protection, assistance or education in a suitable establishment, decided by the competent court;
e) Detention by court order due to disobedience to a court order or to ensure appearance before the competent judicial authority.
(4) Every person who is deprived of freedom shall be informed, immediately and in a comprehensible way, of the reasons of his or her
arrest or detention, as well as of his or her rights.
(5) Any deprival of freedom in violation of the provisions of the Constitution and the law results in the State having the duty to
compensate the aggrieved party in accordance with what is laid down by law.
Article 28 Remand in Custody
(1) Detention without judicial charge, within forty eight hours, is subject to the scrutiny of a court, for validation or continuation of
detention; the court hears the reasons for the detention, informs the prisoner thereof, interrogates the latter, and allows him or her the
chance to defend him or herself.
(2) Remanding someone in custody may not be continued where it can be replaced by bail or by any other more favorable measure
provided by law.
(3) A court order for a measure involving deprivation of freedom or for its continuance immediately has to be made known to the person
indicated by the prisoner, be it a relative of the latter or a person in his or her trust.
(4) Remanding someone in custody, both before and after judicial charge, is subject to the time limitations laid down by law.
Article 29 Application of Criminal Law
(1) No one may be convicted under criminal law except by virtue of existing legislation making the action or omission punishable, and no
one may be subjected to a security measure involving deprivation of freedom for reasons that do not warrant such a measure under
existing legislation.
(2) The foregoing paragraph does not prevent the punishment, within the limits of municipal law, of an action or omission which at the
time it was committed was regarded as criminal by virtue of the commonly accepted general principles of international law.
(3) No sentences or security measures is applied that is not expressly provided for in previous laws.
(4) No one may be subjected to a sentence or security measure that is more severe than those provided for at the time the act was
committed or the plans therefor were laid. Criminal laws more favorable to the offender apply retroactively.
(5) No one can be tried more than once for the same offence.
(6) Citizens who have been unjustly convicted have the right, under conditions to be laid down by law, to have their sentences reviewed
and to be compensated for losses suffered.
Article 30 Limits on Sentences and Security Measures
(1) No one may be subjected to a sentence or security measure
involving deprivation or restriction of freedom for life or for an unlimited or indefinite term.
(2) In case of danger due to serious mental disorder that cannot be treated in an open environment, security measures involving
deprivation or restriction of freedom may be extended successively by judicial decision in each case, for as long as the said condition lasts.
(3) Sentences are not transferable.
(4) No sentence may involve, as a necessary effect, the loss of any civil, occupational, or political rights.
(5) The persons who are convicted to a sentence or a security measure involving deprivation of freedom enjoy the fundamental rights,
save the limitations that are inherent in the conviction and the requirements of its enforcement.
Article 31 Habeas Corpus
(1) The remedy of habeas corpus is available before a court of law or court martial, according to the case, against any wrongful use of
power in the form of unlawful detention.
(2) Habeas corpus may be demanded by the prisoner or by any citizen in enjoyment of his political rights.
(3) The court rules on a motion for habeas corpus within eight days at a hearing in the presence of both parties.
Article 32 Safeguards in Criminal Proceedings
(1) Criminal proceedings have to provide all necessary safeguards for the defence.
(2) Everyone charged with an offence is presumed innocent until his conviction has acquired the force of res judicata, and he is tried as
fast as is compatible with defence safeguards.
(3) The accused has the right to choose and to be assisted by counsel at all stages of the proceedings. The cases and stages in which this
is compulsory are specified by law.
(4) A judge has jurisdiction throughout the preliminary investigation. In accordance with the law, the judge may delegate to other persons
those acts of investigation that are not directly connected with fundamental rights.
(5) Criminal proceedings are accusatory in structure, and the trial and the acts of the preliminary investigation to be determined by law are
subject to the principle that both parties should be heard.
(6) Any evidence obtained by torture, force, violation of the physical or moral integrity of the individual, wrongful interference in private
life, the home, correspondence, or telecommunications are of no effect.
(7) No case may be withheld from the court that has jurisdiction under previously existing law.
(8) In proceedings concerning regulatory offences, the accused is guaranteed the right to a hearing as well as the right to defend him or
herself.
Article 33 Extradition, Deportation, Right to Asylum
(1) Portuguese citizens may not be extradited or deported from the national territory.
(2) No one may be extradited for political reasons.
(3) No one may be extradited for crimes which carry the death penalty under the law of the requesting State.
(4) Extradition is decided only by a judicial authority.
(5) Deportation of persons who have entered or are staying regularly on the national territory, who have obtained a residence permit, or
who have lodged a non-refused asylum application, is decided only by a judicial authority; the law provides for expeditious forms of
decisionmaking.
(6) The right of asylum is secured to aliens and stateless persons who are persecuted or seriously threatened of persecution as a result of
their activities on behalf of
democracy, social and national liberation, peace among the peoples, or individual freedom and human rights.
(7) The status of political refugees are defined by law.
Article 34 Inviolability of Home and Correspondence
(1) The individual's home and the privacy of his correspondence and other means of private communication are inviolable.
(2) A citizen's home may not be entered against his will, except by order of the competent judicial authority and in the cases and
according to the forms laid down by law.
(3) No one may enter the home of any person at night without his consent.
(4) Any interference by public authority with correspondence or telecommunications, apart from the cases laid down by law in
connection with criminal procedure, are prohibited.
Article 35 Use of Data Processing
(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the law on State secrecy and justice secrecy, all citizens have the right of access to the data
contained in automated data records and files concerning them as well as the right to be informed of the use for which they are intended;
they are entitled to request that the contents thereof be corrected and brought up to date.
(2) Access to personal data records or files are forbidden for purposes of getting information relating to third parties as well as for the
interconnection of these files, save in exceptional cases as provided for in the law and in Article 18.
(3) Data processing may not be used in regard to information concerning a person's philosophical or political convictions, party or trade
union affiliations, religious beliefs, or private life, except in the case of non-identifiable data for statistical purposes.
(4) The law defines the concept of personal data for the purposes of data storage as well as the conditions for establishing data banks and
data basis by public or private entities and the conditions of utilization and access.
(5) Citizens may not be issued all-purpose national identification numbers.
(6) The law defines the provisions applicable to trans-border data flows establishing adequate norms of protection of personal data and of
any other data in which the national interest is justified.
Article 36 Family, Marriage, and Filiation
(1) Everyone has the right to found a family and marry on terms of complete equality.
(2) The requirements for and effects of marriage and its dissolution by death or divorce are regulated by law without distinction as to the
form in which the marriage is or was contracted.
(3) Spouses have equal rights and duties with respect to their civil and political capacity as well as the maintenance and upbringing of their
children.
(4) Children born out of wedlock may not for that reason be the subject of discrimination; discriminatory designations of filiation may not
be used by the law or by Government departments.
(5) Parents have the right and the duty to bring up and maintain their children.
(6) Children are not to be separated from their parents unless the latter fail to perform their fundamental duties towards the former, and
then only by judicial decision.
(7) Adoption is regulated and protected in accordance with the law.
Article 37 Freedom of Expression and Information
(1) Everyone has the right to express and make known his or her thoughts freely by words, images, or any other means, and also the
right to inform, obtain information, and be informed without hindrance or discrimination.
(2) The exercise of these rights may not be prevented or restricted by any type or form of censorship.
(3) Offences committed in the exercise of these rights are punishable under the general principles of criminal law, the courts of law
having jurisdiction to try them.
(4) The right of reply and rectification and the right to compensation for losses suffered are equally and effectively secured to all natural
and artificial persons.
Article 38 Freedom of the Press and Mass Media
(1) Freedom of the press is safeguarded.
(2) Freedom of the press includes:
a) The freedom of expression and creativeness for journalists and literary collaborators as well as a role for the former in giving editorial
direction to the concerned mass media, save where the latter belong to the State or have a doctrinal or denominational character;
b) The journalists' right of access to the sources of information, protection of their professional independence and secrecy, and election
of editorial councils, in accordance with the law;
c) The right to start newspapers and any other publication regardless of any prior administrative authorization, deposit, or qualification.
(3) The law ensures, in a general way, disclosure of the ownership and forms of financing of the mass media.
(4) The State ensures the freedom and independence of the mass media against the political and economic powers; it imposes the principle
of specialty with respect to companies that own general information media; it treats and support the latter in a non-discriminatory fashion
and prevents their concentration, notably through multiple or inter-locking financial interests.
(5) The State ensures the existence and the operation of a public service of radio and television.
(6) The structure and the operation of the media that remain within the public sector ensure their independence against the Government,
the administration, and other public bodies; it also ensures that the different lines of opinion may be expressed and confronted.
(7) Radio and television stations may operate only where a license to that effect has been delivered pursuant to a public competition held in
accordance with the law.
Article 39 High Authority for the Mass Media
(1) The High Authority for the mass media secures the right to information, the freedom of the press, the independence of the mass media
against the political and economic powers, the possibility of expression and confrontation of the different lines of opinion, as well as the
exercise of the right to broadcasting time, the right of reply and the right of political argument.
(2) The High Authority for the mass media is an independent body, made up, in accordance with the law, of thirteen members including
among them the following:
a) One judge appointed by the Higher Council of the Bench, who is in the chair;
b) Five members elected by the Assembly of the Republic according to the system of proportional representation and the Hondt highest
average method;
c) Three members appointed by the Government;
d) Four members representing, notably, public opinion, the mass media, and culture.
(3) The High Authority for the mass media gives an opinion prior to any government decision concerning the licensing of private television
channels; such a decision, if favorable, falls
only upon an application that will have been the subject of a favorable opinion.
(4) Within the delay provided for in the law and prior to the appointment and removal of the directors of the mass media belonging to the
State, to other public bodies or to bodies directly or indirectly under the economic control of the State, the High Authority for the mass
media also give a public and substantiated opinion.
(5) The law regulates the functioning of the High Authority for the mass media.
Article 40 Right to Broadcasting Time, Reply, and Political Argument
(1) The political parties, the trade unions, the professional organizations, and the organizations representing economic activities, according
to their representation and to objective criteria laid down by the law, have the right to broadcasting time on publicly owned radio and
television.
(2) The political parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic and not in Government have the right to broadcasting time on
publicly owned radio and television, on a pro rata basis and in accordance with the law; they also have the right to reply and to political
argument with respect to the political statements of the Government, in accordance with the law. The length and the relevance afforded to
the exercise of such rights is equal to what the Government was respectively granted.
(3) In election periods, the competitors have the right to regular and equitable broadcasting time on radio and television stations of national
and regional relevance, in accordance with the law.
Article 41 Freedom of Conscience, Religion, and Worship
(1) Freedom of conscience, religion, and worship are inviolable.
(2) No one may be persecuted, deprived of rights, or exempted from civil obligations or duties because of his convictions or religious
practices.
(3) No one may be questioned by any authority about his or her convictions or religious practices, except for gathering of statistical data
that cannot be identified individually, nor shall anyone be prejudiced by his or her refusal to reply.
(4) The churches and religious communities are separate from the State and free to organize and exercise their own ceremonies and
worship.
(5) The freedom to teach any religion within its own denomination and the use of its own means of public information for the pursuit of
its activities, are safeguarded.
(6) The right to be a conscientious objector is safeguarded in accordance with the law.
Article 42 Freedom of Cultural Creation
(1) Intellectual, artistic, and scientific creation are unrestricted.
(2) This freedom includes the right to invention, production, and dissemination of scientific, literary, or artistic works, including legal
protection of copyright.
Article 43 Freedom to Learn and Teach
(1) The freedom to learn and teach is safeguarded.
(2) The State may not arrogate to itself the right to plan education and culture in accordance with any philosophical, aesthetic, political,
ideological, or religious guidelines.
(3) Public education is non-denominational.
(4) The right to establish private and co-operative schools is safeguarded.
Article 44 Right to Travel and Emigrate
(1) The right of all citizens to travel and to settle freely anywhere in national territory is safeguarded.
(2) The right to emigrate or leave the national territory and the right to return to it are secured to everyone.
Article 45 Right to Meet and Demonstrate
(1) Citizens have the right to meet peacefully and without arms, even in public places, without requiring any authorization.
(2) The right of all citizens to demonstrate is recognised.
Article 46 Freedom of Association
(1) Citizens have the right to form associations freely and without requiring any authorization provided such associations are not intended
to promote violence and their objectives are not contrary to the criminal law.
(2) Associations may pursue their objectives freely without interference by any public authority. They cannot be dissolved by the State
and their activities may not be suspended except by judicial decision in the cases provided by law.
(3) No one is obliged to join any association or forced by any means to remain in it.
(4) Armed, military-type, militarized, or para-military associations outside the State and the Armed Forces and organizations which adopt
fascist ideology are not permitted.
Article 47 Freedom to Choose One's Occupation and Enter the Civil Service
(1) Everyone has the right to choose freely his or her occupation or type of work, except for legal restrictions laid down in the public
interest or inherent to his or her own capacity.
(2) All citizens have the right to enter the civil service under conditions of equality and freedom, generally through public competitions.
Chapter II Rights, Freedoms, and Guarantees of Political Participation
Article 48 Participation in Public Life
(1) All citizens have the right to take part in political life and in the control of the country's public affairs, either directly or through
freely-elected representatives.
(2) Every citizen has the right to objective information about the acts of the State and other public bodies and to be informed by the
Government and other authorities about the management of public affairs.
Article 49 Right to Vote
(1) All citizens who are over 18 years of age have the right to vote, except for the incapacities laid down in general law.
(2) The exercise of the right to vote is personal and constitutes a civic duty.
Article 50 Right to Access to Public Office
(1) All citizens have the right of access to public office under conditions of equality and freedom.
(2) No one may be discriminated against in his or her assignment to a specific post, employment, professional career, or social benefits to
which he or she has a right because of the exercise of political rights or the holding of public office.
(3) With respect to access to elective office, the law establishes only such limitations as are necessary in order to secure the electors
freedom of choice as well as the unbiased and independent carrying out of the functions that go with the office.
Article 51 Political Associations and Parties
(1) Freedom of association includes the right to set up and join political associations and parties and through them to work jointly and
democratically to give form to the will of the people
and to organize political power.
(2) No one may be a member of more than one political party simultaneously, or be deprived of the exercise of any right because of
membership, or cessation of membership, of a lawfully constituted party.
(3) Without prejudice to the philosophy or ideology inspiring their programs, political parties may not use names that contain terms
directly related to any religion or church or use emblems which may be mistaken for national or religious symbols.
(4) No party may be established whose name or displayed aims indicate a regional nature or field of action.
Article 52 Right to Petition and Actio Popularis
(1) All citizens have the right to submit, individually or jointly, petitions, representations, claims, and complaints to the organs of supreme
authority or any authority, for the purpose of defending their rights, the Constitution, the laws, or the general interests.
(2) The law sets out the requirements under which petitions submitted jointly to the Assembly of the Republic are examined in a plenary
sitting.
(3) Everyone, either personally or through associations that purport to defend the interests at stake, enjoys the right to actio popularis in
the cases and under the conditions provided by law, notably the right to promote the prevention, the suppression, and the prosecution of
offences against public health, the environment, the quality of life, and the cultural heritage, as well as to claim the corresponding damages
for the aggrieved party or parties.
Chapter III Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards of Workers
Article 53 Job Security
The right of workers to job security is safeguarded. Dismissals without just cause or for political or ideological reasons are forbidden.
Article 54 Workers' Committees
(1) Workers have the right to set up committees for the defence of their interests and for a democratic share in the running of their
enterprise.
(2) The establishment of the committees is determined by general assemblies of the workers, who also approve their statutes and elect
their members by direct and secret ballot.
(3) Coordinating committees may be set up in such a form as to safeguard the interests of the workers for the purpose of more effective
intervention in economic reorganization.
(4) The members of the committees enjoy the protection afforded by law to trade union delegates.
(5) Workers' committees have the right to:
a) Receive all information needed for the pursuit of their activities;
b) Supervise the management of enterprises;
c) Intervene in the reorganization of production units;
d) Participate in the drawing up of labor legislation and social and economic plans concerning their sector;
e) Manage or participate in the management of the social works of enterprises;
f) Promote the election of representatives of the workers to the management organs of enterprises belonging to the State or other public
bodies, in accordance with the law.
Article 55 Trade Union Freedom
(1) Workers are free to form trade unions, a condition and safeguard for the building of their unity in defence of their rights and interests.
(2) In the exercise of trade union freedom, the following freedoms are safeguarded for workers without discrimination:
a) Freedom to set up trade union associations at all levels;
b) Freedom of membership, no worker being required to pay dues to a trade union of which he is not a member;
c) Freedom in the organization and internal regulation of trade union associations;
d) The right to engage in trade union activity within the enterprise;
e) The right to different tendencies, in ways to be determined by the statutes thereof.
(3) Trade union associations are governed by the principles of democratic organization and management, based on regular elections to
their governing bodies by secret ballot. They are not subject to any authorization or recognition, their foundation being active participation
by the workers in all aspects of trade union activity.
(4) Trade union associations are independent of employers, the State, and religious denominations. Adequate safeguards for such
independence has to be laid down by law as the foundation of the unity of the working classes.
(5) Trade union associations have the right to establish relations with or to join international trade union organizations.
(6) The law secures adequate protection to the elected representatives of workers against any forms of constraint, coercion, or limitation
of the legitimate performance of their duties.
Article 56 Rights of Trade Union Associations and Collective Agreements
(1) Trade union associations are competent to defend and promote the defense of the rights and interests of the workers they represent.
(2) Trade union associations have the right to:
a) Participate in the preparation of labor legislation;
b) Participate in the management of social security institutions and other bodies whose aim is to satisfy the interests of the working
classes;
c) Participate in the supervision of the implementation of economic and social plans;
d) Be represented in the social dialogue bodies, in accordance with the law.
(3) Trade union associations have the powers to exercise the right of concluding collective agreements.
(4) The rules governing the powers to conclude collective labor agreements and the scope of their provisions are laid down by law.
Article 57 Right to Strike and Prohibition of Lock-Outs
(1) The right to strike is safeguarded.
(2) Workers are entitled to decide what interests are to be protected by means of strikes. The sphere of such interests is not be restricted
by law.
(3) Lock-outs are prohibited.
Section III Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Duties
Chapter I Economic Rights and Duties
Article 58 Right to Work
(1) Everyone has the right to work.
(2) The duty to work is inseparable from the right to work, except for those persons whose capacities have been diminished by age,
sickness, or disability.
(3) It is the duty of the State, by implementing plans for economic and social policy, to safeguard the right to work, ensuring:
a) The implementation of full employment policies;
b) Equality of opportunity in the choice of occupation or type of work and conditions preventing access to any post, work, or
professional category being prohibited or restricted by reason of a person's sex;
c) Cultural, technical, and vocational training for workers.
Article 59 Rights of Workers
(1) All workers, regardless of their age, sex, race, nationality, land of origin, religion, or political or ideological convictions, are entitled to:
a) Remuneration for their work according to its quantity, nature, and quality, on the principle of equal pay for equal work, so as to secure
to them an appropriate livelihood;
b) The organization of work in conditions making for dignity so as to permit personal self-fulfillment;
c) Safe and healthy working conditions;
d) Rest and recreation, a limit to the length of the working day, a weekly rest day and holidays with pay;
e) Material assistance when they are involuntarily unemployed.
(2) It is the duty of the State to secure the conditions of work, remuneration, and rest to which workers are entitled, in particular by:
a) Fixing and keeping up to date a national minimum wage and maximum wage, having regard among other factors to workers' needs, the
increase in the cost of living, the degree of development of the forces of production, economic and financial stability, and the formation of
capital for development;
b) Setting limits on the length of working time at the national level;
c) Special protection at work for women during pregnancy and after childbirth, for minors, for disabled persons, and for those engaged in
activities requiring particular effort or working in unhealthy, poisonous, or dangerous conditions;
d) Systematic development of a network of rest and holiday centers, in co-operation with welfare organizations;
e) Protecting the working conditions and safeguarding social benefits of emigrant workers.
Article 60 Consumer Rights
(1) Consumers have the right to goods and services of good quality, to training and information, to the protection of their health, safety,
and economic interests, as well as to compensation for damages.
(2) Advertising has to be regulated by law; all forms of hidden, indirect, or fraudulent advertising are prohibited.
(3) Consumer associations and consumer co-operatives are entitled, in accordance with the law, to the support of the State and to being
heard on the questions concerning consumer protection.
Article 61 Private Enterprise, Cooperatives, Industrial Self-Management
(1) Private economic enterprise are freely exercised, within the framework set out in the Constitution and in the law, and with due
account to the general interest.
(2) Everyone is recognized the right to freely set up cooperatives, as long as the cooperative principles are observed.
(3) Cooperatives freely carry on their activities and may join in unions, federations, and confederations.
(4) The right to industrial self-management is recognized in accordance with the law.
Article 62 Right to Private Property
(1) Everyone is secured, in accordance with the Constitution, the right to private property and to its transfer during lifetime or by death.
(2) The requisition of property or its expropriation for public purposes are carried out only on the strength of the law and only against the
payment of fair compensation.
Chapter II Social Rights and Duties
Article 63 Social Security
(1) Everyone is entitled to social security.
(2) It is the duty of the State to organize, coordinate, and subsidize a unified and decentralized social security system, with the
participation of the trade union associations, other organizations representing the workers, and associations representing the other
beneficiaries.
(3) The right to set up private and non-profit-making institutions of social solidarity that pursue the social security objectives laid out in
this Article and in Articles 67 (2)(b), 69, 70 (1)(d), 71 and 72, is recognized; they are regulated in the law and subject to State supervision.
(4) The social security system protects citizens in sickness, old age, disability, widowhood, orphanhood, unemployment, and all other
situations in which the means of subsistence or capacity to work are lost or reduced.
(5) All the periods of time spent working regardless of the sectors of activity where the work was performed, are taken into account for
the purposes of calculating the amount of old age and disability pensions, in accordance with the law.
Article 64 Health
(1) Everyone has the right to protection of his or her health and the duty to defend and foster it.
(2) The right to health protection is to be met by:
a) A universal and general national health service that, taking into account the economic and social conditions of the citizens, tending to be
free of charge;
b) The creation of economic, social, and cultural conditions securing the protection of children, the young, and the old; the systematic
improvement of living and working conditions; the promotion of physical fitness and sports in school and among the people; the
development of the people's sanitary education.
(3) In order to secure the right to health protection, the State has prime duty to:
a) Secure the access of all citizens, regardless of their economic condition, to preventive as well as curative and rehabilitation medical care;
b) Secure a rational and efficient medical and hospital coverage of the whole country;
c) Direct its action towards the socialization of the costs of medical and medico-pharmaceutical care;
d) Control and supervise medicine practiced in partnership and privately, coordinating it with the national health service;
e) Control and supervise the production, marketing and use of chemical, biological and pharmaceutical products and other means of
treatment and diagnosis.
(4) The national health service has a decentralized management in which the beneficiaries take part.
Article 65 Housing
(1) Everyone has the right for himself and his family to a dwelling of adequate size satisfying standards of hygiene and comfort and
preserving personal and family privacy.
(2) In order to safeguard the right to housing, it is the duty of the State to:
a) Draw up and put into effect a housing policy that is a part of general regional planning and is based on urban planning that secures the
existence of an adequate network of transport and social facilities;
b) Encourage and support local authorities' and communities' initiatives aimed at solving their housing problems and promoting the
establishment of housing cooperatives as well as individual building;
c) Promote private building subject to the public interest, as well as access to privately owned dwelling.
(3) The State adopts a policy aimed at introducing a system of rents compatible with family incomes and of individual ownership of
dwellings.
(4) The State and local authorities exercise effective supervision over immovable property, expropriate urban land where necessary, and
lay down the legal requirements for its use.
Article 66 Environment and Quality of Life
(1) Everyone has the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced human environment and the duty to defend it.
(2) It is the duty of the State, acting through appropriate bodies and having recourse to or taking support on popular initiatives, to:
a) Prevent and control pollution, its effects and harmful forms of erosion;
b) Order and promote regional planning aimed at achieving a proper location of activities, a balanced social and economic development,
and resulting in biologically balanced landscapes;
c) Create and develop natural reserves and parks and recreation areas and classify and protect landscapes and sites so as to ensure the
conservation of nature and the preservation of cultural assets of historical or artistic interest;
d) Promote the rational use of natural resources, safeguarding their capacity for renewal and ecological stability.
Article 67 Family
(1) The family, as a fundamental element of society has the right to protection by society and the State and to the creation of all
conditions permitting the personal self-fulfillment of its members.
(2) The State has the duty of protecting the family, in particular by:
a) Promoting the social and economic independence of family units;
b) Promoting the establishment of a national network of assistance to mothers and children, a national network of day care centers and
facilities for aiding the family, and a policy for the old;
c) Cooperating with parents in the education of their children;
d) Promoting by all necessary means the wider knowledge of family planning methods and setting up legal and technical structures
permitting planned parenthood;
e) Adjusting taxes and social security benefits in line with family responsibilities;
f) Determining, after hearing associations representing families, and carrying out an overall and integrated family policy.
Article 68 Fatherhood and Motherhood
(1) In carrying out their irreplaceable action with regard to their children, notably as concerns the education of the latter, fathers and
mothers are entitled to protection by society and the State, with safeguards for their occupational self-fulfillment and their participation in
the country's civic life.
(2) Motherhood and fatherhood are eminent social values.
(3) When pregnant and after having given birth, women at work are entitled to special protection, including entitlement to leave from
work without loss of remuneration and any privileges.
Article 69 Childhood
(1) Children have the right to the protection of society and the
State with a view to their full development.
(2) Children, particularly orphans and abandoned children, are entitled to special protection by society and the State against any form of
discrimination and oppression and against abuses of authority in the family and other institutions.
Article 70 Young People
(1) Young people, especially young people at work, receive special protection for the purpose of effective enjoyment of their economic,
social, and cultural rights, notably with respect to:
a) Education, vocational training, and culture;
b) Access to a first job, work, and social security;
c) Physical education and sports;
d) The use of leisure-time.
(2) The prime objective of youth policy is to develop in young people their character, a liking for unfettered creation, and a sense of
service to the community, as well as to create the prerequisites leading to their effective integration in active life.
(3) In conjunction with the families, schools, businesses, neighborhood organizations, cultural associations, and trusts, recreational and
cultural groups, the State promotes and assists the youth organizations in pursuing the above-mentioned objectives, as well as the
international exchanges of young people.
Article 71 Disabled Persons
(1) Citizens who are physically or mentally disabled enjoy all the rights and be subject to all the duties embodied in the Constitution, except
for the exercise or performance of those for which their disablement renders them unfit.
(2) The State carries out a national policy for prevention and for the treatment, rehabilitation, and integration of handicapped persons,
develops a form of education to make society aware of its duties of respect for them and solidarity with them, and ensures that they enjoy
their rights fully, without prejudice to the rights and duties of their parents or guardians.
(3) The State assists the disabled persons' associations.
Article 72 Old Age
(1) Old people have the right to economic security and to conditions of housing and of family and community life that prevents and
overcomes their isolation and marginal position in society.
(2) The policy for the old also comprises economic, social, and cultural measures that tend to provide old people with opportunities for
personal self-fulfillment through active participation in community life.
Chapter III Cultural Rights and Duties
Article 73 Education, Culture, and Science
(1) Everyone has the right to education and culture.
(2) The State promotes the democratization of education and other conditions so that education at school and by other methods can
contribute to the development of the personality, to social progress, and to democratic participation in public life.
(3) In conjunction with the mass media, cultural association and trusts, cultural and recreational groups, associations for the safeguard of
the cultural heritage, neighborhood organizations and other cultural agents, the State promotes the democratization of culture by
encouraging and securing access by all citizens to the fruits of culture and cultural creation.
(4) Scientific creation and research, as well as technological innovation, is encouraged and assisted by the State.
Article 74 Education
(1) Everyone has the right to education with safeguard of the right to equal opportunities of access to and success in schooling.
(2) Education contributes to overcome economic, social, and cultural imbalances, to enable citizens to participate on a democratic basis in
a free society and to promote mutual understanding, tolerance, and a spirit of solidarity.
(3) In the implementation of its educational policy it is a State duty to:
a) Ensure compulsory and free universal basic education;
b) Institute a public system of pre-school education;
c) Ensure permanent education and abolish illiteracy;
d) Secure to all citizens, in accordance with their ability, access to the highest levels of education. scientific research and artistic creation;
e) Institute by stages free education at all levels;
f) Insert the schools in the communities they serve and coordinate education with economic, social and cultural activities;
g) Promote and support special education for the handicapped;
h) Secure for emigrants' children the teaching of the Portuguese language and access to Portuguese culture.
(4) Access to work is forbidden, in accordance with the law, to school-age minor children.
Article 75 Public, Private, and Cooperative Education
(1) The State establishes a network of public education institutions to meet the needs of the whole population.
(2) The State recognizes and supervises private and cooperative education, in accordance with the law.
Article 76 University and Access to Higher Level Education
(1) The rules governing access to the University and other institutions of higher education secure equal chances for all and the
democratization of the system of education; they take into account the need for qualified graduates and the betterment of the country's
educational, cultural, and scientific level.
(2) The universities are autonomous with respect to the adoption of their rules and enjoy scientific, pedagogical, administrative, and
financial autonomy, all in accordance with the law.
Article 77 Democratic Participation in Education
(1) Teachers and students have the right to participate in the democratic management of schools in accordance with the law.
(2) The law regulates the forms of participation of teachers', students' and parents' associations and the communities and institutions of a
scientific nature in the determination of educational policy.
Article 78 Cultural Enjoyment and Creation
(1) Everyone has the right to cultural enjoyment and creation, and the duty to preserve, defend, and increase the cultural heritage.
(2) It is the duty of the State, in cooperation with all cultural agents, to:
a) Encourage and ensure the access of all citizens, particularly the workers, to the means and instruments of cultural action, and to
correct the asymmetries existing in the country in this regard;
b) Support initiatives stimulating individual and collective creation in its multiple forms and expression, and a greater circulation of quality
cultural works and assets;
c) Promote the safeguarding and increase of the cultural heritage, making it a lifely element of the common cultural identity;
d) Develop cultural relations with all peoples, particularly the Portuguese-speaking ones, and to ensure the defence and promotion of
Portuguese culture abroad;
e) Coordinate cultural policy with other sectorial policies.
Article 79 Physical Education and Sport
(1) Everyone has the right to physical education and sports.
(2) It is the duty of the State, in conjunction with the schools and sports associations and groups, to promote, stimulate, guide, and
support the practice and dissemination of physical education and sports, as well as to prevent violence in sports.
Part II Economic Organization
Section I General Principles
Article 80 Fundamental Principles
The social and economic organization are based on the following principles:
a) Subordination of economic power to democratic political, power;
b) Co-existence of the public, the private, and the cooperative and social sectors with respect to the ownership of the means of
production;
c) Collective ownership of means of production and land as required by the public interest; collective ownership of the natural resources;
d) Democratic planning of the economy;
e) Protection of the cooperative and social sector with respect to the ownership of the means of production;
f) Democratic intervention of the workers.
Article 81 Prime Duties of the State
In the economic and social sphere the prime duties of the State are:
a) To promote an increase in the social and economic well-being and the quality of life of the people, especially the most underprivileged
classes;
b) To undertake the necessary corrections with respect to imbalances in the distribution of wealth and income;
c) To ensure that the productive forces are fully used, particularly by watching over the efficiency of the public sector;
d) To guide the economic and social development towards balanced growth of all sectors and regions and to progressively eliminate the
economic and social differences between town and country;
e) To abolish private monopolies and to prevent their being created, as well as to suppress abuses of economic power and all practices
that are harmful to the common interest;
f) To ensure that there is fair competition in business;
g) To develop economic relations with all peoples while always safeguarding national independence and the interests of the Portuguese
and of the country's economy;
h) To suppress the very large estates and reorganize the very small farms;
i) To ensure that the organizations representing the workers and the organizations representing economic activities participate in
determining, implementing, and controlling the main economic and social measures;
j) To protect the consumers;
l) To set up the legal and technical structures that are necessary for introducing a system of democratic economic planning;
m) To draw up a scientific and technological policy that furthers the country's development;
n) To adopt a national energies policy that is in keeping with the conservation of natural resources and ecological balances,
whilst promoting international co-operation in this field.
Article 82 Sectors in the Ownership of the Means of Production
(1) The co-existence of three sectors with respect to the ownership of the means of production is safeguarded.
(2) The public sector comprises the means of production that belong to and are managed by the State or other public bodies.
(3) The private sector comprises the means of production that belong to or are managed by private persons or private corporate bodies,
without prejudice to the provisions in the following paragraph.
(4) The cooperative and social sector comprise the following:
a) The means of production that belong to and are managed by cooperatives in accordance with the cooperative principles;
b) The community's means of production that belong to and are managed by local communities;
c) The means of production that are collectively exploited by workers.
Article 83 Requirements for Collective Ownership
The law defines the ways and means of collective interference in and collective ownership of the means of production and land, as well as
the criteria for fixing the corresponding compensation.
Article 84 Public Domain
(1) The following are part of the public domain:
a) The territorial waters with their beds and the contiguous sea beds, as well as the lakes, lagoons, and navigable or floatable
water-courses, with their respective beds;
b) The air layers above the territory and higher than the limits recognized to owners and lessees;
c) Mineral beds, mineral and medical water-springs, underground natural cavities in the subsoil, save the rocks, ordinary soils, and other
materials habitually used for building construction purposes;
d) The roads;
e) The national railways;
f) Other property classified as such by the law.
(2) The law determines what is part of the public domain of the State, what is part of the public domain of the autonomous regions and
what is part of the public domain of the local authorities; it also determines the applicable rules, the conditions involving the utilization of
the public domain, and the limits thereof.
Article 85 Nationalization Measures Carried out After 25 April 1974
(1) The re-privatization of the ownership of, or the entitlement to exploit, the means of production, and other property nationalized after
25 April 1974 are carried out only if in compliance with a framework-law adopted by the absolute majority of the Members entitled to sit
in the Assembly of the Republic.
(2) Small and medium-sized businesses indirectly nationalized which are outside the basic sectors of the economy might be re-privatized
in accordance with the law.
Article 86 Cooperatives and Experiences in Worker Self-Management
(1) The State stimulates and supports the establishment and activity of cooperatives.
(2) Fiscal and financial concessions to cooperatives and more favorable conditions for borrowing and for obtaining technical assistance
are determined by law.
(3) The State supports viable experiences in worker self-management.
Article 87 Private Businesses
(1) The State supervises compliance with the Constitution and the law on the part of private businesses and protects small and
medium-sized economically viable businesses.
(2) The State intervenes in the management of private businesses only on a temporary basis, where the law expressly provides to that
effect, and, as a rule, subsequently to a judicial decision.
(3) The law determines which are the basic sectors wherein the activity of private businesses and other entities of the same nature is
forbidden.
Article 88 Economic Activity and Foreign Investment
Economic activity and investment by foreign natural or artificial persons is regulated by law, to ensure that they contribute to the
country's development and to safeguard national independence and the interests of the workers.
Article 89 Abandoned Means of Production
(1) Abandoned means of production may be expropriated on conditions to be laid down by law with due regard to the special situation of
property of workers who have emigrated.
(2) Means of production which are unjustifiedly abandoned may also be compulsory given out on lease, or to a concessionaire, under
conditions to be laid down by the law.
Article 90 Workers Participation in Management
Effective participation of workers in the management of the production units of the public sector has to be safeguarded.
Chapter I Personal Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards
Article 24 Right to Life
(1) Human life is inviolable.
(2) The death penalty is applicable in no case.
Article 25 Right to Personal Integrity
(1) The moral and physical integrity of the persons is inviolable.
(2) No one may be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or inhuman treatment or punishment.
Article 26 Other Personal Rights
(1) Everyone's right to his or her personal identity, civil capacity, citizenship, good name and reputation, image, the right to speak out, and
the right to the protection of the intimacy of his or her private and family life is recognized.
(2) The law establishes effective safeguards against the abusive use, or any use that is contrary to human dignity, of information
concerning persons and families.
(3) A person may be deprived of citizenship or subjected to restrictions on his or her civil capacity only in cases and under conditions laid
down by law, and never on political grounds.
Article 27 Right to Freedom and Security
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom and security.
(2) No one may be deprived of his or her freedom, in whole or in part, except as a result of a court judgment convicting him or her to a
prison sentence on account of an offense punishable by law, or as a result of judicial application of a security measure.
(3) In the following cases and as a matter of exception, the latter principle does not apply to deprivation of freedom, for the period and
under the conditions laid down by law:
a) Remand in custody, where a person is taken in flagrante delicto or where there is strong evidence that the person has committed a
deliberate offense punishable, at the top of the scale, with imprisonment for over three years; b) The arrest or detention of a person who
has unlawfully entered or stayed in the national territory or against whom extradition or deportation proceedings have been instituted;
c) Disciplinary imprisonment of military, who are guaranteed the right to appeal to the competent court;
d) Subjection of a minor to measures of protection, assistance or education in a suitable establishment, decided by the competent court;
e) Detention by court order due to disobedience to a court order or to ensure appearance before the competent judicial authority.
(4) Every person who is deprived of freedom shall be informed, immediately and in a comprehensible way, of the reasons of his or her
arrest or detention, as well as of his or her rights.
(5) Any deprival of freedom in violation of the provisions of the Constitution and the law results in the State having the duty to
compensate the aggrieved party in accordance with what is laid down by law.
Article 28 Remand in Custody
(1) Detention without judicial charge, within forty eight hours, is subject to the scrutiny of a court, for validation or continuation of
detention; the court hears the reasons for the detention, informs the prisoner thereof, interrogates the latter, and allows him or her the
chance to defend him or herself.
(2) Remanding someone in custody may not be continued where it can be replaced by bail or by any other more favorable measure
provided by law.
(3) A court order for a measure involving deprivation of freedom or for its continuance immediately has to be made known to the person
indicated by the prisoner, be it a relative of the latter or a person in his or her trust.
(4) Remanding someone in custody, both before and after judicial charge, is subject to the time limitations laid down by law.
Article 29 Application of Criminal Law
(1) No one may be convicted under criminal law except by virtue of existing legislation making the action or omission punishable, and no
one may be subjected to a security measure involving deprivation of freedom for reasons that do not warrant such a measure under
existing legislation.
(2) The foregoing paragraph does not prevent the punishment, within the limits of municipal law, of an action or omission which at the
time it was committed was regarded as criminal by virtue of the commonly accepted general principles of international law.
(3) No sentences or security measures is applied that is not expressly provided for in previous laws.
(4) No one may be subjected to a sentence or security measure that is more severe than those provided for at the time the act was
committed or the plans therefor were laid. Criminal laws more favorable to the offender apply retroactively.
(5) No one can be tried more than once for the same offence.
(6) Citizens who have been unjustly convicted have the right, under conditions to be laid down by law, to have their sentences reviewed
and to be compensated for losses suffered.
Article 30 Limits on Sentences and Security Measures
(1) No one may be subjected to a sentence or security measure
involving deprivation or restriction of freedom for life or for an unlimited or indefinite term.
(2) In case of danger due to serious mental disorder that cannot be treated in an open environment, security measures involving
deprivation or restriction of freedom may be extended successively by judicial decision in each case, for as long as the said condition lasts.
(3) Sentences are not transferable.
(4) No sentence may involve, as a necessary effect, the loss of any civil, occupational, or political rights.
(5) The persons who are convicted to a sentence or a security measure involving deprivation of freedom enjoy the fundamental rights,
save the limitations that are inherent in the conviction and the requirements of its enforcement.
Article 31 Habeas Corpus
(1) The remedy of habeas corpus is available before a court of law or court martial, according to the case, against any wrongful use of
power in the form of unlawful detention.
(2) Habeas corpus may be demanded by the prisoner or by any citizen in enjoyment of his political rights.
(3) The court rules on a motion for habeas corpus within eight days at a hearing in the presence of both parties.
Article 32 Safeguards in Criminal Proceedings
(1) Criminal proceedings have to provide all necessary safeguards for the defence.
(2) Everyone charged with an offence is presumed innocent until his conviction has acquired the force of res judicata, and he is tried as
fast as is compatible with defence safeguards.
(3) The accused has the right to choose and to be assisted by counsel at all stages of the proceedings. The cases and stages in which this
is compulsory are specified by law.
(4) A judge has jurisdiction throughout the preliminary investigation. In accordance with the law, the judge may delegate to other persons
those acts of investigation that are not directly connected with fundamental rights.
(5) Criminal proceedings are accusatory in structure, and the trial and the acts of the preliminary investigation to be determined by law are
subject to the principle that both parties should be heard.
(6) Any evidence obtained by torture, force, violation of the physical or moral integrity of the individual, wrongful interference in private
life, the home, correspondence, or telecommunications are of no effect.
(7) No case may be withheld from the court that has jurisdiction under previously existing law.
(8) In proceedings concerning regulatory offences, the accused is guaranteed the right to a hearing as well as the right to defend him or
herself.
Article 33 Extradition, Deportation, Right to Asylum
(1) Portuguese citizens may not be extradited or deported from the national territory.
(2) No one may be extradited for political reasons.
(3) No one may be extradited for crimes which carry the death penalty under the law of the requesting State.
(4) Extradition is decided only by a judicial authority.
(5) Deportation of persons who have entered or are staying regularly on the national territory, who have obtained a residence permit, or
who have lodged a non-refused asylum application, is decided only by a judicial authority; the law provides for expeditious forms of
decisionmaking.
(6) The right of asylum is secured to aliens and stateless persons who are persecuted or seriously threatened of persecution as a result of
their activities on behalf of
democracy, social and national liberation, peace among the peoples, or individual freedom and human rights.
(7) The status of political refugees are defined by law.
Article 34 Inviolability of Home and Correspondence
(1) The individual's home and the privacy of his correspondence and other means of private communication are inviolable.
(2) A citizen's home may not be entered against his will, except by order of the competent judicial authority and in the cases and
according to the forms laid down by law.
(3) No one may enter the home of any person at night without his consent.
(4) Any interference by public authority with correspondence or telecommunications, apart from the cases laid down by law in
connection with criminal procedure, are prohibited.
Article 35 Use of Data Processing
(1) Without prejudice to the provisions of the law on State secrecy and justice secrecy, all citizens have the right of access to the data
contained in automated data records and files concerning them as well as the right to be informed of the use for which they are intended;
they are entitled to request that the contents thereof be corrected and brought up to date.
(2) Access to personal data records or files are forbidden for purposes of getting information relating to third parties as well as for the
interconnection of these files, save in exceptional cases as provided for in the law and in Article 18.
(3) Data processing may not be used in regard to information concerning a person's philosophical or political convictions, party or trade
union affiliations, religious beliefs, or private life, except in the case of non-identifiable data for statistical purposes.
(4) The law defines the concept of personal data for the purposes of data storage as well as the conditions for establishing data banks and
data basis by public or private entities and the conditions of utilization and access.
(5) Citizens may not be issued all-purpose national identification numbers.
(6) The law defines the provisions applicable to trans-border data flows establishing adequate norms of protection of personal data and of
any other data in which the national interest is justified.
Article 36 Family, Marriage, and Filiation
(1) Everyone has the right to found a family and marry on terms of complete equality.
(2) The requirements for and effects of marriage and its dissolution by death or divorce are regulated by law without distinction as to the
form in which the marriage is or was contracted.
(3) Spouses have equal rights and duties with respect to their civil and political capacity as well as the maintenance and upbringing of their
children.
(4) Children born out of wedlock may not for that reason be the subject of discrimination; discriminatory designations of filiation may not
be used by the law or by Government departments.
(5) Parents have the right and the duty to bring up and maintain their children.
(6) Children are not to be separated from their parents unless the latter fail to perform their fundamental duties towards the former, and
then only by judicial decision.
(7) Adoption is regulated and protected in accordance with the law.
Article 37 Freedom of Expression and Information
(1) Everyone has the right to express and make known his or her thoughts freely by words, images, or any other means, and also the
right to inform, obtain information, and be informed without hindrance or discrimination.
(2) The exercise of these rights may not be prevented or restricted by any type or form of censorship.
(3) Offences committed in the exercise of these rights are punishable under the general principles of criminal law, the courts of law
having jurisdiction to try them.
(4) The right of reply and rectification and the right to compensation for losses suffered are equally and effectively secured to all natural
and artificial persons.
Article 38 Freedom of the Press and Mass Media
(1) Freedom of the press is safeguarded.
(2) Freedom of the press includes:
a) The freedom of expression and creativeness for journalists and literary collaborators as well as a role for the former in giving editorial
direction to the concerned mass media, save where the latter belong to the State or have a doctrinal or denominational character;
b) The journalists' right of access to the sources of information, protection of their professional independence and secrecy, and election
of editorial councils, in accordance with the law;
c) The right to start newspapers and any other publication regardless of any prior administrative authorization, deposit, or qualification.
(3) The law ensures, in a general way, disclosure of the ownership and forms of financing of the mass media.
(4) The State ensures the freedom and independence of the mass media against the political and economic powers; it imposes the principle
of specialty with respect to companies that own general information media; it treats and support the latter in a non-discriminatory fashion
and prevents their concentration, notably through multiple or inter-locking financial interests.
(5) The State ensures the existence and the operation of a public service of radio and television.
(6) The structure and the operation of the media that remain within the public sector ensure their independence against the Government,
the administration, and other public bodies; it also ensures that the different lines of opinion may be expressed and confronted.
(7) Radio and television stations may operate only where a license to that effect has been delivered pursuant to a public competition held in
accordance with the law.
Article 39 High Authority for the Mass Media
(1) The High Authority for the mass media secures the right to information, the freedom of the press, the independence of the mass media
against the political and economic powers, the possibility of expression and confrontation of the different lines of opinion, as well as the
exercise of the right to broadcasting time, the right of reply and the right of political argument.
(2) The High Authority for the mass media is an independent body, made up, in accordance with the law, of thirteen members including
among them the following:
a) One judge appointed by the Higher Council of the Bench, who is in the chair;
b) Five members elected by the Assembly of the Republic according to the system of proportional representation and the Hondt highest
average method;
c) Three members appointed by the Government;
d) Four members representing, notably, public opinion, the mass media, and culture.
(3) The High Authority for the mass media gives an opinion prior to any government decision concerning the licensing of private television
channels; such a decision, if favorable, falls
only upon an application that will have been the subject of a favorable opinion.
(4) Within the delay provided for in the law and prior to the appointment and removal of the directors of the mass media belonging to the
State, to other public bodies or to bodies directly or indirectly under the economic control of the State, the High Authority for the mass
media also give a public and substantiated opinion.
(5) The law regulates the functioning of the High Authority for the mass media.
Article 40 Right to Broadcasting Time, Reply, and Political Argument
(1) The political parties, the trade unions, the professional organizations, and the organizations representing economic activities, according
to their representation and to objective criteria laid down by the law, have the right to broadcasting time on publicly owned radio and
television.
(2) The political parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic and not in Government have the right to broadcasting time on
publicly owned radio and television, on a pro rata basis and in accordance with the law; they also have the right to reply and to political
argument with respect to the political statements of the Government, in accordance with the law. The length and the relevance afforded to
the exercise of such rights is equal to what the Government was respectively granted.
(3) In election periods, the competitors have the right to regular and equitable broadcasting time on radio and television stations of national
and regional relevance, in accordance with the law.
Article 41 Freedom of Conscience, Religion, and Worship
(1) Freedom of conscience, religion, and worship are inviolable.
(2) No one may be persecuted, deprived of rights, or exempted from civil obligations or duties because of his convictions or religious
practices.
(3) No one may be questioned by any authority about his or her convictions or religious practices, except for gathering of statistical data
that cannot be identified individually, nor shall anyone be prejudiced by his or her refusal to reply.
(4) The churches and religious communities are separate from the State and free to organize and exercise their own ceremonies and
worship.
(5) The freedom to teach any religion within its own denomination and the use of its own means of public information for the pursuit of
its activities, are safeguarded.
(6) The right to be a conscientious objector is safeguarded in accordance with the law.
Article 42 Freedom of Cultural Creation
(1) Intellectual, artistic, and scientific creation are unrestricted.
(2) This freedom includes the right to invention, production, and dissemination of scientific, literary, or artistic works, including legal
protection of copyright.
Article 43 Freedom to Learn and Teach
(1) The freedom to learn and teach is safeguarded.
(2) The State may not arrogate to itself the right to plan education and culture in accordance with any philosophical, aesthetic, political,
ideological, or religious guidelines.
(3) Public education is non-denominational.
(4) The right to establish private and co-operative schools is safeguarded.
Article 44 Right to Travel and Emigrate
(1) The right of all citizens to travel and to settle freely anywhere in national territory is safeguarded.
(2) The right to emigrate or leave the national territory and the right to return to it are secured to everyone.
Article 45 Right to Meet and Demonstrate
(1) Citizens have the right to meet peacefully and without arms, even in public places, without requiring any authorization.
(2) The right of all citizens to demonstrate is recognised.
Article 46 Freedom of Association
(1) Citizens have the right to form associations freely and without requiring any authorization provided such associations are not intended
to promote violence and their objectives are not contrary to the criminal law.
(2) Associations may pursue their objectives freely without interference by any public authority. They cannot be dissolved by the State
and their activities may not be suspended except by judicial decision in the cases provided by law.
(3) No one is obliged to join any association or forced by any means to remain in it.
(4) Armed, military-type, militarized, or para-military associations outside the State and the Armed Forces and organizations which adopt
fascist ideology are not permitted.
Article 47 Freedom to Choose One's Occupation and Enter the Civil Service
(1) Everyone has the right to choose freely his or her occupation or type of work, except for legal restrictions laid down in the public
interest or inherent to his or her own capacity.
(2) All citizens have the right to enter the civil service under conditions of equality and freedom, generally through public competitions.
Chapter II Rights, Freedoms, and Guarantees of Political Participation
Article 48 Participation in Public Life
(1) All citizens have the right to take part in political life and in the control of the country's public affairs, either directly or through
freely-elected representatives.
(2) Every citizen has the right to objective information about the acts of the State and other public bodies and to be informed by the
Government and other authorities about the management of public affairs.
Article 49 Right to Vote
(1) All citizens who are over 18 years of age have the right to vote, except for the incapacities laid down in general law.
(2) The exercise of the right to vote is personal and constitutes a civic duty.
Article 50 Right to Access to Public Office
(1) All citizens have the right of access to public office under conditions of equality and freedom.
(2) No one may be discriminated against in his or her assignment to a specific post, employment, professional career, or social benefits to
which he or she has a right because of the exercise of political rights or the holding of public office.
(3) With respect to access to elective office, the law establishes only such limitations as are necessary in order to secure the electors
freedom of choice as well as the unbiased and independent carrying out of the functions that go with the office.
Article 51 Political Associations and Parties
(1) Freedom of association includes the right to set up and join political associations and parties and through them to work jointly and
democratically to give form to the will of the people
and to organize political power.
(2) No one may be a member of more than one political party simultaneously, or be deprived of the exercise of any right because of
membership, or cessation of membership, of a lawfully constituted party.
(3) Without prejudice to the philosophy or ideology inspiring their programs, political parties may not use names that contain terms
directly related to any religion or church or use emblems which may be mistaken for national or religious symbols.
(4) No party may be established whose name or displayed aims indicate a regional nature or field of action.
Article 52 Right to Petition and Actio Popularis
(1) All citizens have the right to submit, individually or jointly, petitions, representations, claims, and complaints to the organs of supreme
authority or any authority, for the purpose of defending their rights, the Constitution, the laws, or the general interests.
(2) The law sets out the requirements under which petitions submitted jointly to the Assembly of the Republic are examined in a plenary
sitting.
(3) Everyone, either personally or through associations that purport to defend the interests at stake, enjoys the right to actio popularis in
the cases and under the conditions provided by law, notably the right to promote the prevention, the suppression, and the prosecution of
offences against public health, the environment, the quality of life, and the cultural heritage, as well as to claim the corresponding damages
for the aggrieved party or parties.
Chapter III Rights, Freedoms, and Safeguards of Workers
Article 53 Job Security
The right of workers to job security is safeguarded. Dismissals without just cause or for political or ideological reasons are forbidden.
Article 54 Workers' Committees
(1) Workers have the right to set up committees for the defence of their interests and for a democratic share in the running of their
enterprise.
(2) The establishment of the committees is determined by general assemblies of the workers, who also approve their statutes and elect
their members by direct and secret ballot.
(3) Coordinating committees may be set up in such a form as to safeguard the interests of the workers for the purpose of more effective
intervention in economic reorganization.
(4) The members of the committees enjoy the protection afforded by law to trade union delegates.
(5) Workers' committees have the right to:
a) Receive all information needed for the pursuit of their activities;
b) Supervise the management of enterprises;
c) Intervene in the reorganization of production units;
d) Participate in the drawing up of labor legislation and social and economic plans concerning their sector;
e) Manage or participate in the management of the social works of enterprises;
f) Promote the election of representatives of the workers to the management organs of enterprises belonging to the State or other public
bodies, in accordance with the law.
Article 55 Trade Union Freedom
(1) Workers are free to form trade unions, a condition and safeguard for the building of their unity in defence of their rights and interests.
(2) In the exercise of trade union freedom, the following freedoms are safeguarded for workers without discrimination:
a) Freedom to set up trade union associations at all levels;
b) Freedom of membership, no worker being required to pay dues to a trade union of which he is not a member;
c) Freedom in the organization and internal regulation of trade union associations;
d) The right to engage in trade union activity within the enterprise;
e) The right to different tendencies, in ways to be determined by the statutes thereof.
(3) Trade union associations are governed by the principles of democratic organization and management, based on regular elections to
their governing bodies by secret ballot. They are not subject to any authorization or recognition, their foundation being active participation
by the workers in all aspects of trade union activity.
(4) Trade union associations are independent of employers, the State, and religious denominations. Adequate safeguards for such
independence has to be laid down by law as the foundation of the unity of the working classes.
(5) Trade union associations have the right to establish relations with or to join international trade union organizations.
(6) The law secures adequate protection to the elected representatives of workers against any forms of constraint, coercion, or limitation
of the legitimate performance of their duties.
Article 56 Rights of Trade Union Associations and Collective Agreements
(1) Trade union associations are competent to defend and promote the defense of the rights and interests of the workers they represent.
(2) Trade union associations have the right to:
a) Participate in the preparation of labor legislation;
b) Participate in the management of social security institutions and other bodies whose aim is to satisfy the interests of the working
classes;
c) Participate in the supervision of the implementation of economic and social plans;
d) Be represented in the social dialogue bodies, in accordance with the law.
(3) Trade union associations have the powers to exercise the right of concluding collective agreements.
(4) The rules governing the powers to conclude collective labor agreements and the scope of their provisions are laid down by law.
Article 57 Right to Strike and Prohibition of Lock-Outs
(1) The right to strike is safeguarded.
(2) Workers are entitled to decide what interests are to be protected by means of strikes. The sphere of such interests is not be restricted
by law.
(3) Lock-outs are prohibited.
Section III Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and Duties
Chapter I Economic Rights and Duties
Article 58 Right to Work
(1) Everyone has the right to work.
(2) The duty to work is inseparable from the right to work, except for those persons whose capacities have been diminished by age,
sickness, or disability.
(3) It is the duty of the State, by implementing plans for economic and social policy, to safeguard the right to work, ensuring:
a) The implementation of full employment policies;
b) Equality of opportunity in the choice of occupation or type of work and conditions preventing access to any post, work, or
professional category being prohibited or restricted by reason of a person's sex;
c) Cultural, technical, and vocational training for workers.
Article 59 Rights of Workers
(1) All workers, regardless of their age, sex, race, nationality, land of origin, religion, or political or ideological convictions, are entitled to:
a) Remuneration for their work according to its quantity, nature, and quality, on the principle of equal pay for equal work, so as to secure
to them an appropriate livelihood;
b) The organization of work in conditions making for dignity so as to permit personal self-fulfillment;
c) Safe and healthy working conditions;
d) Rest and recreation, a limit to the length of the working day, a weekly rest day and holidays with pay;
e) Material assistance when they are involuntarily unemployed.
(2) It is the duty of the State to secure the conditions of work, remuneration, and rest to which workers are entitled, in particular by:
a) Fixing and keeping up to date a national minimum wage and maximum wage, having regard among other factors to workers' needs, the
increase in the cost of living, the degree of development of the forces of production, economic and financial stability, and the formation of
capital for development;
b) Setting limits on the length of working time at the national level;
c) Special protection at work for women during pregnancy and after childbirth, for minors, for disabled persons, and for those engaged in
activities requiring particular effort or working in unhealthy, poisonous, or dangerous conditions;
d) Systematic development of a network of rest and holiday centers, in co-operation with welfare organizations;
e) Protecting the working conditions and safeguarding social benefits of emigrant workers.
Article 60 Consumer Rights
(1) Consumers have the right to goods and services of good quality, to training and information, to the protection of their health, safety,
and economic interests, as well as to compensation for damages.
(2) Advertising has to be regulated by law; all forms of hidden, indirect, or fraudulent advertising are prohibited.
(3) Consumer associations and consumer co-operatives are entitled, in accordance with the law, to the support of the State and to being
heard on the questions concerning consumer protection.
Article 61 Private Enterprise, Cooperatives, Industrial Self-Management
(1) Private economic enterprise are freely exercised, within the framework set out in the Constitution and in the law, and with due
account to the general interest.
(2) Everyone is recognized the right to freely set up cooperatives, as long as the cooperative principles are observed.
(3) Cooperatives freely carry on their activities and may join in unions, federations, and confederations.
(4) The right to industrial self-management is recognized in accordance with the law.
Article 62 Right to Private Property
(1) Everyone is secured, in accordance with the Constitution, the right to private property and to its transfer during lifetime or by death.
(2) The requisition of property or its expropriation for public purposes are carried out only on the strength of the law and only against the
payment of fair compensation.
Chapter II Social Rights and Duties
Article 63 Social Security
(1) Everyone is entitled to social security.
(2) It is the duty of the State to organize, coordinate, and subsidize a unified and decentralized social security system, with the
participation of the trade union associations, other organizations representing the workers, and associations representing the other
beneficiaries.
(3) The right to set up private and non-profit-making institutions of social solidarity that pursue the social security objectives laid out in
this Article and in Articles 67 (2)(b), 69, 70 (1)(d), 71 and 72, is recognized; they are regulated in the law and subject to State supervision.
(4) The social security system protects citizens in sickness, old age, disability, widowhood, orphanhood, unemployment, and all other
situations in which the means of subsistence or capacity to work are lost or reduced.
(5) All the periods of time spent working regardless of the sectors of activity where the work was performed, are taken into account for
the purposes of calculating the amount of old age and disability pensions, in accordance with the law.
Article 64 Health
(1) Everyone has the right to protection of his or her health and the duty to defend and foster it.
(2) The right to health protection is to be met by:
a) A universal and general national health service that, taking into account the economic and social conditions of the citizens, tending to be
free of charge;
b) The creation of economic, social, and cultural conditions securing the protection of children, the young, and the old; the systematic
improvement of living and working conditions; the promotion of physical fitness and sports in school and among the people; the
development of the people's sanitary education.
(3) In order to secure the right to health protection, the State has prime duty to:
a) Secure the access of all citizens, regardless of their economic condition, to preventive as well as curative and rehabilitation medical care;
b) Secure a rational and efficient medical and hospital coverage of the whole country;
c) Direct its action towards the socialization of the costs of medical and medico-pharmaceutical care;
d) Control and supervise medicine practiced in partnership and privately, coordinating it with the national health service;
e) Control and supervise the production, marketing and use of chemical, biological and pharmaceutical products and other means of
treatment and diagnosis.
(4) The national health service has a decentralized management in which the beneficiaries take part.
Article 65 Housing
(1) Everyone has the right for himself and his family to a dwelling of adequate size satisfying standards of hygiene and comfort and
preserving personal and family privacy.
(2) In order to safeguard the right to housing, it is the duty of the State to:
a) Draw up and put into effect a housing policy that is a part of general regional planning and is based on urban planning that secures the
existence of an adequate network of transport and social facilities;
b) Encourage and support local authorities' and communities' initiatives aimed at solving their housing problems and promoting the
establishment of housing cooperatives as well as individual building;
c) Promote private building subject to the public interest, as well as access to privately owned dwelling.
(3) The State adopts a policy aimed at introducing a system of rents compatible with family incomes and of individual ownership of
dwellings.
(4) The State and local authorities exercise effective supervision over immovable property, expropriate urban land where necessary, and
lay down the legal requirements for its use.
Article 66 Environment and Quality of Life
(1) Everyone has the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced human environment and the duty to defend it.
(2) It is the duty of the State, acting through appropriate bodies and having recourse to or taking support on popular initiatives, to:
a) Prevent and control pollution, its effects and harmful forms of erosion;
b) Order and promote regional planning aimed at achieving a proper location of activities, a balanced social and economic development,
and resulting in biologically balanced landscapes;
c) Create and develop natural reserves and parks and recreation areas and classify and protect landscapes and sites so as to ensure the
conservation of nature and the preservation of cultural assets of historical or artistic interest;
d) Promote the rational use of natural resources, safeguarding their capacity for renewal and ecological stability.
Article 67 Family
(1) The family, as a fundamental element of society has the right to protection by society and the State and to the creation of all
conditions permitting the personal self-fulfillment of its members.
(2) The State has the duty of protecting the family, in particular by:
a) Promoting the social and economic independence of family units;
b) Promoting the establishment of a national network of assistance to mothers and children, a national network of day care centers and
facilities for aiding the family, and a policy for the old;
c) Cooperating with parents in the education of their children;
d) Promoting by all necessary means the wider knowledge of family planning methods and setting up legal and technical structures
permitting planned parenthood;
e) Adjusting taxes and social security benefits in line with family responsibilities;
f) Determining, after hearing associations representing families, and carrying out an overall and integrated family policy.
Article 68 Fatherhood and Motherhood
(1) In carrying out their irreplaceable action with regard to their children, notably as concerns the education of the latter, fathers and
mothers are entitled to protection by society and the State, with safeguards for their occupational self-fulfillment and their participation in
the country's civic life.
(2) Motherhood and fatherhood are eminent social values.
(3) When pregnant and after having given birth, women at work are entitled to special protection, including entitlement to leave from
work without loss of remuneration and any privileges.
Article 69 Childhood
(1) Children have the right to the protection of society and the
State with a view to their full development.
(2) Children, particularly orphans and abandoned children, are entitled to special protection by society and the State against any form of
discrimination and oppression and against abuses of authority in the family and other institutions.
Article 70 Young People
(1) Young people, especially young people at work, receive special protection for the purpose of effective enjoyment of their economic,
social, and cultural rights, notably with respect to:
a) Education, vocational training, and culture;
b) Access to a first job, work, and social security;
c) Physical education and sports;
d) The use of leisure-time.
(2) The prime objective of youth policy is to develop in young people their character, a liking for unfettered creation, and a sense of
service to the community, as well as to create the prerequisites leading to their effective integration in active life.
(3) In conjunction with the families, schools, businesses, neighborhood organizations, cultural associations, and trusts, recreational and
cultural groups, the State promotes and assists the youth organizations in pursuing the above-mentioned objectives, as well as the
international exchanges of young people.
Article 71 Disabled Persons
(1) Citizens who are physically or mentally disabled enjoy all the rights and be subject to all the duties embodied in the Constitution, except
for the exercise or performance of those for which their disablement renders them unfit.
(2) The State carries out a national policy for prevention and for the treatment, rehabilitation, and integration of handicapped persons,
develops a form of education to make society aware of its duties of respect for them and solidarity with them, and ensures that they enjoy
their rights fully, without prejudice to the rights and duties of their parents or guardians.
(3) The State assists the disabled persons' associations.
Article 72 Old Age
(1) Old people have the right to economic security and to conditions of housing and of family and community life that prevents and
overcomes their isolation and marginal position in society.
(2) The policy for the old also comprises economic, social, and cultural measures that tend to provide old people with opportunities for
personal self-fulfillment through active participation in community life.
Chapter III Cultural Rights and Duties
Article 73 Education, Culture, and Science
(1) Everyone has the right to education and culture.
(2) The State promotes the democratization of education and other conditions so that education at school and by other methods can
contribute to the development of the personality, to social progress, and to democratic participation in public life.
(3) In conjunction with the mass media, cultural association and trusts, cultural and recreational groups, associations for the safeguard of
the cultural heritage, neighborhood organizations and other cultural agents, the State promotes the democratization of culture by
encouraging and securing access by all citizens to the fruits of culture and cultural creation.
(4) Scientific creation and research, as well as technological innovation, is encouraged and assisted by the State.
Article 74 Education
(1) Everyone has the right to education with safeguard of the right to equal opportunities of access to and success in schooling.
(2) Education contributes to overcome economic, social, and cultural imbalances, to enable citizens to participate on a democratic basis in
a free society and to promote mutual understanding, tolerance, and a spirit of solidarity.
(3) In the implementation of its educational policy it is a State duty to:
a) Ensure compulsory and free universal basic education;
b) Institute a public system of pre-school education;
c) Ensure permanent education and abolish illiteracy;
d) Secure to all citizens, in accordance with their ability, access to the highest levels of education. scientific research and artistic creation;
e) Institute by stages free education at all levels;
f) Insert the schools in the communities they serve and coordinate education with economic, social and cultural activities;
g) Promote and support special education for the handicapped;
h) Secure for emigrants' children the teaching of the Portuguese language and access to Portuguese culture.
(4) Access to work is forbidden, in accordance with the law, to school-age minor children.
Article 75 Public, Private, and Cooperative Education
(1) The State establishes a network of public education institutions to meet the needs of the whole population.
(2) The State recognizes and supervises private and cooperative education, in accordance with the law.
Article 76 University and Access to Higher Level Education
(1) The rules governing access to the University and other institutions of higher education secure equal chances for all and the
democratization of the system of education; they take into account the need for qualified graduates and the betterment of the country's
educational, cultural, and scientific level.
(2) The universities are autonomous with respect to the adoption of their rules and enjoy scientific, pedagogical, administrative, and
financial autonomy, all in accordance with the law.
Article 77 Democratic Participation in Education
(1) Teachers and students have the right to participate in the democratic management of schools in accordance with the law.
(2) The law regulates the forms of participation of teachers', students' and parents' associations and the communities and institutions of a
scientific nature in the determination of educational policy.
Article 78 Cultural Enjoyment and Creation
(1) Everyone has the right to cultural enjoyment and creation, and the duty to preserve, defend, and increase the cultural heritage.
(2) It is the duty of the State, in cooperation with all cultural agents, to:
a) Encourage and ensure the access of all citizens, particularly the workers, to the means and instruments of cultural action, and to
correct the asymmetries existing in the country in this regard;
b) Support initiatives stimulating individual and collective creation in its multiple forms and expression, and a greater circulation of quality
cultural works and assets;
c) Promote the safeguarding and increase of the cultural heritage, making it a lifely element of the common cultural identity;
d) Develop cultural relations with all peoples, particularly the Portuguese-speaking ones, and to ensure the defence and promotion of
Portuguese culture abroad;
e) Coordinate cultural policy with other sectorial policies.
Article 79 Physical Education and Sport
(1) Everyone has the right to physical education and sports.
(2) It is the duty of the State, in conjunction with the schools and sports associations and groups, to promote, stimulate, guide, and
support the practice and dissemination of physical education and sports, as well as to prevent violence in sports.
Part II Economic Organization
Section I General Principles
Article 80 Fundamental Principles
The social and economic organization are based on the following principles:
a) Subordination of economic power to democratic political, power;
b) Co-existence of the public, the private, and the cooperative and social sectors with respect to the ownership of the means of
production;
c) Collective ownership of means of production and land as required by the public interest; collective ownership of the natural resources;
d) Democratic planning of the economy;
e) Protection of the cooperative and social sector with respect to the ownership of the means of production;
f) Democratic intervention of the workers.
Article 81 Prime Duties of the State
In the economic and social sphere the prime duties of the State are:
a) To promote an increase in the social and economic well-being and the quality of life of the people, especially the most underprivileged
classes;
b) To undertake the necessary corrections with respect to imbalances in the distribution of wealth and income;
c) To ensure that the productive forces are fully used, particularly by watching over the efficiency of the public sector;
d) To guide the economic and social development towards balanced growth of all sectors and regions and to progressively eliminate the
economic and social differences between town and country;
e) To abolish private monopolies and to prevent their being created, as well as to suppress abuses of economic power and all practices
that are harmful to the common interest;
f) To ensure that there is fair competition in business;
g) To develop economic relations with all peoples while always safeguarding national independence and the interests of the Portuguese
and of the country's economy;
h) To suppress the very large estates and reorganize the very small farms;
i) To ensure that the organizations representing the workers and the organizations representing economic activities participate in
determining, implementing, and controlling the main economic and social measures;
j) To protect the consumers;
l) To set up the legal and technical structures that are necessary for introducing a system of democratic economic planning;
m) To draw up a scientific and technological policy that furthers the country's development;
n) To adopt a national energies policy that is in keeping with the conservation of natural resources and ecological balances,
whilst promoting international co-operation in this field.
Article 82 Sectors in the Ownership of the Means of Production
(1) The co-existence of three sectors with respect to the ownership of the means of production is safeguarded.
(2) The public sector comprises the means of production that belong to and are managed by the State or other public bodies.
(3) The private sector comprises the means of production that belong to or are managed by private persons or private corporate bodies,
without prejudice to the provisions in the following paragraph.
(4) The cooperative and social sector comprise the following:
a) The means of production that belong to and are managed by cooperatives in accordance with the cooperative principles;
b) The community's means of production that belong to and are managed by local communities;
c) The means of production that are collectively exploited by workers.
Article 83 Requirements for Collective Ownership
The law defines the ways and means of collective interference in and collective ownership of the means of production and land, as well as
the criteria for fixing the corresponding compensation.
Article 84 Public Domain
(1) The following are part of the public domain:
a) The territorial waters with their beds and the contiguous sea beds, as well as the lakes, lagoons, and navigable or floatable
water-courses, with their respective beds;
b) The air layers above the territory and higher than the limits recognized to owners and lessees;
c) Mineral beds, mineral and medical water-springs, underground natural cavities in the subsoil, save the rocks, ordinary soils, and other
materials habitually used for building construction purposes;
d) The roads;
e) The national railways;
f) Other property classified as such by the law.
(2) The law determines what is part of the public domain of the State, what is part of the public domain of the autonomous regions and
what is part of the public domain of the local authorities; it also determines the applicable rules, the conditions involving the utilization of
the public domain, and the limits thereof.
Article 85 Nationalization Measures Carried out After 25 April 1974
(1) The re-privatization of the ownership of, or the entitlement to exploit, the means of production, and other property nationalized after
25 April 1974 are carried out only if in compliance with a framework-law adopted by the absolute majority of the Members entitled to sit
in the Assembly of the Republic.
(2) Small and medium-sized businesses indirectly nationalized which are outside the basic sectors of the economy might be re-privatized
in accordance with the law.
Article 86 Cooperatives and Experiences in Worker Self-Management
(1) The State stimulates and supports the establishment and activity of cooperatives.
(2) Fiscal and financial concessions to cooperatives and more favorable conditions for borrowing and for obtaining technical assistance
are determined by law.
(3) The State supports viable experiences in worker self-management.
Article 87 Private Businesses
(1) The State supervises compliance with the Constitution and the law on the part of private businesses and protects small and
medium-sized economically viable businesses.
(2) The State intervenes in the management of private businesses only on a temporary basis, where the law expressly provides to that
effect, and, as a rule, subsequently to a judicial decision.
(3) The law determines which are the basic sectors wherein the activity of private businesses and other entities of the same nature is
forbidden.
Article 88 Economic Activity and Foreign Investment
Economic activity and investment by foreign natural or artificial persons is regulated by law, to ensure that they contribute to the
country's development and to safeguard national independence and the interests of the workers.
Article 89 Abandoned Means of Production
(1) Abandoned means of production may be expropriated on conditions to be laid down by law with due regard to the special situation of
property of workers who have emigrated.
(2) Means of production which are unjustifiedly abandoned may also be compulsory given out on lease, or to a concessionaire, under
conditions to be laid down by the law.
Article 90 Workers Participation in Management
Effective participation of workers in the management of the production units of the public sector has to be safeguarded.
The Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens. Around 1,000
BCE, Celts migrated into the region and married into the local population while Phoenicians
established permanent commercial ports in the south. Rome's first invaded the Peninsula in
219 BCE, dubbing the region "Portus Cale" as well as Lusitania for the dominant tribe.
Germanic tribes invaded in the 5th Century CE, giving rise to the Suevi Visigoth Kingdom.
Islamic Moors from North Africa invaded in 711 and conquered the southern region facing
great resistance from northern Germanic tribes in an effort called the Reconquista of
Portucale in 868 evolving into a dependent of the Kingdom of Leon and gaining a measure
of independence in 1065 and full independence from the Kingdom of Galicia in 1095.
Statehood is traced to 24 June 1128 with the ascension of the first Prince of Portugal. The
final conquest of the Moorish occupied south in 1249 led to Portugal's eventual status as a
nation built on exploration and trade and the rise of the Portuguese Empire in 1415. It's
influence declined when it fell under Spanish rule, leading to the 30 Year's War and a return
of independence in 1668. The nation went under significant reforms in the 18th Century, but
experienced mass immigration to Brazil with the capital of Portugal moving to Rio De
Janiero. The capital returned to Lisbon with Brazilian Independence in 1822. The First
Republic was established in 1910 with the abolition of the monarchy. This led to a series of
dictatorships, the most recent of which was defeated in 1974. The present constitution was
adopted on 2 April 1976. It has been amended a few times. Human rights are enumerated
beginning with Part Two (Fundamental Liberties), conform with the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of which Portugal is a signatory and are detailed below. For a
full English translation of Portugal's Constitution, click here.
BCE, Celts migrated into the region and married into the local population while Phoenicians
established permanent commercial ports in the south. Rome's first invaded the Peninsula in
219 BCE, dubbing the region "Portus Cale" as well as Lusitania for the dominant tribe.
Germanic tribes invaded in the 5th Century CE, giving rise to the Suevi Visigoth Kingdom.
Islamic Moors from North Africa invaded in 711 and conquered the southern region facing
great resistance from northern Germanic tribes in an effort called the Reconquista of
Portucale in 868 evolving into a dependent of the Kingdom of Leon and gaining a measure
of independence in 1065 and full independence from the Kingdom of Galicia in 1095.
Statehood is traced to 24 June 1128 with the ascension of the first Prince of Portugal. The
final conquest of the Moorish occupied south in 1249 led to Portugal's eventual status as a
nation built on exploration and trade and the rise of the Portuguese Empire in 1415. It's
influence declined when it fell under Spanish rule, leading to the 30 Year's War and a return
of independence in 1668. The nation went under significant reforms in the 18th Century, but
experienced mass immigration to Brazil with the capital of Portugal moving to Rio De
Janiero. The capital returned to Lisbon with Brazilian Independence in 1822. The First
Republic was established in 1910 with the abolition of the monarchy. This led to a series of
dictatorships, the most recent of which was defeated in 1974. The present constitution was
adopted on 2 April 1976. It has been amended a few times. Human rights are enumerated
beginning with Part Two (Fundamental Liberties), conform with the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of which Portugal is a signatory and are detailed below. For a
full English translation of Portugal's Constitution, click here.