RCBE regime (annex to Law No. 89/2017) · Chapter IV · Access

Article 21 Access by competent authorities

Artigo 21.º · Acesso pelas autoridades competentes

Lei n.º 89/2017 and the annexed Regime Jurídico do RCBE · consolidated text checked 26 October 2026

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1. The judicial, police and sectoral authorities provided for in Law No. 83/2017 of 18 August, as well as the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), shall have access to all the information contained in the RCBE, including the audit data provided for in paragraph 6 of the preceding Article, within the scope of their respective statutory remits in the field of preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

1 - As autoridades judiciárias, policiais e setoriais previstas na Lei n.º 83/2017, de 18 de agosto, bem como a AT, acedem a toda a informação constante do RCBE, incluindo aos dados de auditoria previstos no n.º 6 do artigo anterior, no âmbito das respetivas atribuições legais em matéria de prevenção e combate ao branqueamento de capitais e ao financiamento do terrorismo.

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2. The public authorities referred to in the preceding paragraph are permitted to access, process and interconnect the data contained in the RCBE, within the scope of their respective statutory remits in the field of preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing, under Law No. 83/2017 of 18 August, including in order to ensure the accuracy, completeness, currency and reliability of the data reported by obliged entities, as well as for the purposes authorised under national law or European Union law.

2 - Às autoridades públicas a que se refere o número anterior é permitido o acesso, o tratamento e a interconexão dos dados constantes do RCBE, no âmbito das respetivas atribuições legais em matéria de prevenção e combate ao branqueamento de capitais e ao financiamento do terrorismo, nos termos da Lei n.º 83/2017, de 18 de agosto, incluindo para garantir a exatidão, exaustividade, atualidade e fiabilidade dos dados comunicados pelas entidades obrigadas, bem como para as finalidades que estejam autorizadas nos termos do direito nacional ou do direito da União Europeia.

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3. Access to the information contained in the RCBE shall take place by authentication in the RCBE.

3 - O acesso à informação constante do RCBE é efetuado através de autenticação no RCBE.

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4. The manner of access to the information and the user identification data collected by IRN, I. P., shall be regulated by order (portaria) of the members of the Government responsible for finance and justice.

4 - O modo de acesso à informação e os dados de identificação dos utilizadores recolhidos pelo IRN, I. P., são regulamentados por portaria dos membros do Governo responsáveis pelas áreas das finanças e da justiça.

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5. All access shall be logged for system audit purposes for a period of five years.

5 - Todos os acessos efetuados devem ficar registados para fins de auditoria ao sistema pelo prazo de cinco anos.

What we checked in this article

Full access by the listed authorities and the AT, including the Article 20(6) audit data, the limitation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing remits, the permitted processing and interconnection, authentication, and the five-year logging period are retained.

Need to file or update the RCBE declaration? Article 21 is where it starts.

We file initial RCBE declarations, updates and annual confirmations for Portuguese companies with foreign owners, and map the ownership chain so the beneficial owner is identified correctly. Fixed fee, done in English.

Unofficial English translation prepared by BCA Portugal for reference. Only the Portuguese text published in the Diário da República has legal force. Editorial notes are ours and are not part of the statute.

Applying the law

The RCBE declaration, filed correctly the first time

A missing or wrong declaration blocks dividend payments, public contracts and bank onboarding. Send us the ownership chart; we identify the beneficial owners, file the declaration and keep it current.

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