Public Services News Company Online - Portal da Empresa (The Enterprise’s Portal) Company Online - Portal da Empresa (The Enterprise’s Portal)
- 29/06/2006
It has been possible to set up a company online in Portugal since 30th June 2006 and the first steps towards the Portal da Empresa (The Enterprise’s Portal) have been taken. These services were launched at a session at the Lisbon Congress Centre (ex-FIL/Junqueira) where the Prime Minister, the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education were present and where the first company was set up online.
Commercial share-owned companies, limited liability companies and civil law companies having a commercial form may now be set up online, using eSignature certificates. These signatures will be available to everyone on the Citizen’s Card, which will be distributed from 2006, replacing the traditional identity card and other forms of identification used in dealings with the government. However, people who have or have acquired advanced electronic signatures may already set up companies online. Alternatively, lawyers, solicitors and notaries who already have advanced electronic signatures and have proxy powers may be used to set up companies. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to go to the public services to set up companies and the interested parties may well be in different locations.
Setting up a company online is cheaper than doing it the traditional way and there is a reduction in the cost for companies in the IT or research and development fields. Additionally, the new company is automatically given a .pt domain on the Internet allocated by the FCCN - Foundation for National Scientific Computation.
The Portal da Empresa (The Enterprise’s Portal) is currently responsible for more than 400 services offered.
Among other additional services, you can now access the elements necessary for setting up a company online, access an e-surgery provided by IAPMEI – SME and Investment Support Institute where you can obtain online answers related to entrepreneurial activities, the Company eFile where each company’s different dealings with the Government are grouped together in an easy-access and safe format for company partners or their proxies only upon authentification via advanced electronic signatures, guaranteeing transparency regarding the state of play and progress of the respective processes. The services on this portal will be extended by the end of 2006 in the scope of the UMIC-coordinated Company Life Cycle project.
Services for the tertiary sector are also available on the Portal da Empresa (The Enterprise’s Portal): non-profit associations, cooperatives and non-governmental organisations.
This is thus yet another significant step forward in terms of the services available online to citizens and companies, reinforcing the solid position Portugal has cemented in the online availability of services in Europe by reaching 10th place in the EU25 ranking and 7th place in the EU15 ranking, according to the assessment published on 29th June 2006 by the European Commission.