A copy of the citizen card motivates 91 complaints to the registry office

Between June 2017 and March of this year, IRN received a total of 91 complaints, according to data that the institute provided to Lusa.

“ The first thing we recommend [aos consumidores], To conclude a contract [como de abastecimento de água ou de telecomunicações], Who requests data from the consumer, (…) the card should never be presented to be copied, ” Sophia Lima, specialist at Deco / Proteste, says Lusa.

Also, the National Data Commission, on its website, makes recommendations about reproducing the citizen’s card: “Whenever you are asked to copy the citizen’s card, you must ask the entity about the specific legal provision on which the request is based (a general reference to a law is insufficient)”.

Reproduction of the card, whether by photocopy or digitization, is permitted “only when” the law expressly provides for it, by decision of a judicial authority or when the cardholder gives his consent, free of charge, with an alternative means of proving his identity, according to the National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) .

According to Sophia Lima, the first thing that must be done, when requesting a copy of a citizen’s card, whether to rent a service or enroll in a school, is to remember the person requesting this copy that the condition is illegal, according to the Citizen Card Law, while maintaining persistence, to demand that the law be specified Who is required to deliver the image.

In the absence of such a legal rule, as is currently the case in most situations in Portugal, the path is open to claim a complaint book, file a complaint, or file a complaint with the police, but it is up to IRN to initiate and direct the administrative offense process, which collects 40% of Fines as revenue of their own.

Sophia Lima said: “As much as possible, never present the card, it is desirable”, explaining that, as a rule, all entities already have the means to collect the data they need, for example to enter into a contract, which was made in the documents themselves.

Sophia Lima defends “more warnings” when copying the identity of children, and reminds of the dangers of identity theft or theft that made it possible to enter into contracts or debt contracts in the name of the target of identity theft, without her knowledge of this.

Since 2007, for nearly 15 years, it has been prohibited in Portugal to reproduce a citizen’s card in a photograph or any other form without the consent of its holder, except in cases expressly provided for by law or by a decision of a judicial authority, and the necessary identity verification to be performed. The public or private entity “is not permitted to keep or keep the citizen’s card.

The law was amended in 2017 to penalize the photocopying or faxing of a foreign citizen’s card with a fine of between 250 and 750 euros without the consent of its owner, except for cases expressly provided for in the law or by a decision of a judicial authority.

Approval for copies should be free, as required by law, but it is not uncommon for you to be required to copy a citizen’s card in order to purchase a mobile phone, rent a service, or enroll in school.

Also read: Consulates in the UK are already handing out the citizen card at home