PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Andreia Candeias Mousinho, Diogo Duarte Campos, João Marques Mendes and Raquel Freitas, PLMJ
15. Waste 15.1 Key Laws and Regulatory Controls The General Framework on Waste Management (RGGR), Annex I of Decree-Law 102-D/2020, is the cornerstone of waste law in Portugal. Decree-Law 152-D/2017 (UNILEX), the Portuguese regime on extended producer responsibility (EPR), is also rel- evant for the following waste flows: • packaging (until EU Regulation 2025/40 of 19th December comes into force); • used oil • used tyres • electric and electronic equipment • end-of-life vehicles • furniture • mattresses; and • self-caring health products. The waste flow of batteries is regulated by EU Regula- tion 2023/1542, of 12th July. The RGGR sets out the main principles and rules on responsibility, liability and regulatory conditions for waste management, in line with Directive 2008/98/ EC, known as the Waste Framework Directive. Among these principles, the following are the most important. • The responsibility for waste management – this general principle establishes the waste producer as the person responsible for the management of their own waste under a licensed enterprise (of the responsible person or of a third person), save for urban waste, which is managed by the public service for waste management. A special EPR principle applies to the person placing products on the market resulting in waste pertaining to one of the specific waste flows set forth in UNILEX. EPR obligations are to ensure the management of the life cycle of the product under a PRO or under a licensed individual scheme. • The waste management hierarchy – this involves setting a priority order in waste prevention and waste management options – ie, prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, waste-to-energy recovery and other forms of recovery and, as a last resort, disposal.
PNEC2030 was recently reviewed to accommodate the most recent strategy on an EU level. VCM See 14.1 Key Polices, Principles and Laws Relating to Asbestos and PCBs . 14. Asbestos and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) 14.1 Key Policies, Principles and Laws Relating to Asbestos and PCBs Asbestos The legislation that regulates the protection of workers against the risks of exposure to asbestos at work is Decree-Law 266/2007 of 24 July 2007. The law deter- mines that employers must use all available means to reduce the exposure of workers in the workplace to dust from asbestos or materials containing asbes- tos, and must restrict exposure to the limit value (0.1 fibres per cubic centimetre over a daily period of eight hours). Furthermore, the removal of material containing asbestos – as well as the wrapping, transportation and management of the corresponding construction and demolition waste – is subject to a specific regu- lation, Ordinance No 40/2014 of 17 February 2024, and may only be performed by duly licensed waste- management operators. PCBs The management of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and equipment containing them is regulated by Decree-Law 277/99 of 23 July 2024. This law stipu- lates that owners of equipment containing more than 5 dm³ of PCBs must notify the National Waste Authority annually of the quantity they hold. Holders of PCBs and equipment containing them are also obliged to decontaminate or dispose of them in accordance with the timetable and other conditions established by the law. PCB decontamination and/or disposal operations must be carried out by companies duly licensed by the National Waste Authority.
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