Circular Letter No. CC/2025/00000033: General Guidelines for the Use of the Electronic Platform for Registration and Transmission of Official Documents (PERTO)

Circular Letter No. CC/2025/00000033
Mod. 99999924/T – 01/14
Subject: PERTO - Electronic Platform for Registration and Transmission of Official Documents

The Bank of Portugal has managed the Electronic Platform for Registration and Transmission of Official Documents (PERTO) since 2020, ensuring an agile and secure communication channel between courts, judicial authorities, other issuers, and the financial system, which includes the Bank itself.

Through this Platform, the Bank of Portugal receives information requests specifically addressed to it, aimed at accessing databases managed by it or other information resulting from the exercise of its functions, ensuring the respective response under terms that are legally admissible, notably considering the legal duty of secrecy.

The Bank of Portugal also promotes, through the same Platform, the provision to the financial system of data regarding lost and recovered identification documents, when requested by individuals.

It is also through this Platform that participating institutions of the financial system, supervised by the Bank of Portugal, receive information requests within the scope of their activity and ensure the respective response.

The entry into force of Decree-Law No. 91/2024, of November 22, which regulated electronic citations and notifications to citizens and companies within the scope of judicial proceedings, established PERTO as a digital area of reserved access to institutions supervised by the Bank of Portugal that are identified by Ordinance of the Government members responsible for the areas of justice and finance, strengthening the legal framework applicable to the operation of the Platform.

The advantage of PERTO, compared to the Digital Services Area of the Courts, lies, first of all, in the possibility for financial institutions to respond to the court through the same channel, as well as the viability of interoperability with the institutions' own systems, reducing their contextual costs with the assistance provided to the judicial activity.

1. Object
   1.1. PERTO aims to receive information requests addressed to the Bank of Portugal, as well as to send official documents to the financial system, through a communication system equipped with security measures aimed at safeguarding the integrity and confidentiality of the respective information.
   Official documents are made available on PERTO by issuers, who select the recipients to whom they are addressed, from among the set of institutions supervised by the Bank of Portugal or the Bank of Portugal itself.
   The Platform also ensures, at the request of individuals, the provision to the set of institutions supervised by the Bank of Portugal identified by ordinance of the Government members responsible for the areas of finance and justice, within the scope of actions in which they are not parties, information regarding lost and recovered identification documents.

1.2. The Platform enables recipients and the Bank of Portugal to receive and respond to official documents received.

2. Concepts
   For the purposes of the Platform, the following are considered:
   2.1. Issuers: all entities that, in accordance with applicable legislation, may address official documents with information requests to institutions of the financial system or directly to the Bank of Portugal, namely: Courts, Public Prosecution Service, bailiffs, judicial administrators, Peace Courts, Public Security Police, Judicial Police, National Republican Guard, Tax and Customs Authority, Social Security (including the Financial Management Institute of Social Security), Notaries, Execution Agents, and Municipal Fiscal Execution Bodies, in accordance with Articles 5(1) and 5(3) of Decree-Law No. 91/2024, of November 22.
   2.2. Recipients: all entities supervised by the Bank of Portugal, identified by ordinance of the Government members responsible for the areas of finance and justice, capable of having relevant information for the purposes of responding to information requests addressed by issuers, as well as those that must be recipients of information regarding lost and recovered identification documents.

3. Characterization of information to be communicated
   Issuers and recipients observe the parameters made available on the Platform to communicate and access information, complying with the technical and operational requirements inherent to compliance with the Platform's guidelines for the transmission and access to such information.

4. Communication and access to information
   4.1. By Issuers
   4.1.1. Access to API (Application Programming Interface) services
   For the purposes of accessing the Platform, issuers may use the API services, which allow for system integration and will be framed through Protocols, of an inter-institutional scope, aiming to safeguard the terms and conditions of operational access to the same.
   4.1.2. Access through the Bank of Portugal website
   For the purposes of accessing the Platform, issuers who do not use the API services may access through the Bank of Portugal website. For this purpose, the authentication mechanism of the Tax and Customs Authority is made available, with issuers, through the user or sub-user created for this purpose, filling in the collective person identification number (NIPC) of the entity they represent, as well as the respective access password, adhering to the technical terms and conditions presented for this purpose.
   4.1.3. Access through interoperability
   For the purposes of accessing the Platform, issuers may also resort to interoperability, which allows for system integration and will be framed through a Protocol, of an inter-institutional scope, aiming to safeguard the terms and conditions of operational access to the same.

4.2. By Recipients
4.2.1. Use of the BPnet system
For the purposes of receiving the official documents sent to them and to ensure their response, recipients may use the BPnet electronic communication system, with access to the Platform available in the Area > Issuance and Treasury (https://www.bportugal.net/), regulated by Instruction No. 16/2023, published in the Official Bulletin 6/2023 3rd Supplement, on July 11, 2023, using credentials assigned for this purpose. It is recommended to configure users by institution, by their respective BPnet interlocutor, recalling the mandatory nature of using this Platform in accordance with applicable legislation.
4.2.2. Use of API
Recipients may also, for the purposes of receiving and responding to official documents sent to them, resort to API services, which allow for system integration.

5. Consultation of information
   5.1. Recipients have the right to access information specifically addressed to them, contained in the Platform, and to request, when they verify that certain information is not available, its retransmission or update from the issuer responsible for the communication.
   5.2. Issuers receive, through the Platform, the responses to requests directed to the Bank of Portugal and supervised institutions, whenever they opt for the use of this response channel.

6. Information retention period and retransmission of official documents
   6.1. Information sent by issuers and recipients is retained for a period of 30 (thirty) days after its registration on the Platform, after which it will be deleted. The deletion of information implies the removal of all structured data, as well as the issued document.
   6.2. In the case of retransmission of official documents, within a time interval of 90 (ninety) days, counted from the date of registration of the document on the Platform, any recipient may request the retransmission of an official document that has been removed and to which they did not have timely access.
   6.3. Recipients are prohibited from giving any other purpose to the received information other than that for which it is intended.

7. Responsibility for information
   7.1. The management of the Platform is carried out by the Bank of Portugal, which ensures the existence of an agile and secure communication channel, such management not implying any responsibility regarding the content of the information conveyed by this means.
   7.2. The information contained in the Platform is the exclusive responsibility of the issuers and recipients, and the Bank of Portugal cannot be held responsible for the inaccuracy, inexactness, or outdated nature of the same, except with regard to information concerning responses to requests addressed to the Bank of Portugal itself.
   7.3. Issuers and recipients are also responsible for ensuring that the processing of any personal data contained in the Platform fully complies with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 — General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), namely regarding the lawfulness, accuracy, updating, and security of the data, assuming all legal responsibilities arising from any non-compliance.
   7.4. The Bank of Portugal, as the controller of personal data resulting from requests addressed to itself, commits to complying with the principles and obligations of the GDPR applicable, including those of minimization, confidentiality, integrity, and transparency of data.

8. Additional clarifications
   Any clarifications regarding the Platform, as well as the User Manuals made available, should be requested from the Bank of Portugal, through the email address perto@bportugal.pt.
   The User Manuals will be accessible:
   a) for issuers, on the Platform (on the homepage); b) for recipients, on BPnet.
   If they wish to obtain technical information about access via API, issuers must contact the Bank of Portugal by email so that the access conditions and the respective manual are made available to them.
   The provision of the Manuals aims to ensure a full understanding of the operation of the Platform, as well as the available functionalities, by all users.

9. Final Provisions
   Circular Letter No. CC/2020/00000010, of 17-02-2020, is revoked.