It is called the ‘balcão de serviço online’, and it is the quick and easy new way to renew a driving licence, or request a substitute.
To make the service even more attractive, people using it will be offered a 10% discount on what would otherwise be a €30 fee.
Also coming in this week is the exemption for people to notify any changes of address.
New cards will not have any addresses printed on them, as identity documents like the Cartão de Cidadão/ da Residência already have these details.
Another move towards freeing up time spent on bureaucratic minutiae comes in the extension of licences from 10 to 15 years, up to the point where drivers reach the age of 60.
From 60 onwards, driving licences have to be renewed according to regulations already in place.
And from April, doctors’ certificates, required for new licence holders and renewals, will have to be submitted electronically from the Ministry of Health to IMTT (the licensing authority).
Doctors meantime have criticised this change to procedures, saying it will cause delays and frustrate doctors who should be free to get on with more important tasks, like seeing their patients (click here).
The upset prompted the change being ‘bounced forwards’ from January to April, but this far it looks set to come into effect from April 1, writes Diário de Notícias.
