Miguel Marques dos Santos analyses the latest reform of Portugal’s Legal Framework for Urban Development and Construction (RJUE), introduced by Decree-Law 108/2026, and the challenges that remain 27 years after the framework was first introduced.

In the article “RJUE reform: twenty-seven years later, the same diagnosis”, Miguel Marques dos Santos highlights the reform’s main changes, from expanding the procedures under which developers can proceed without waiting for a permissive act from the municipality to the digitalisation of procedures and the revision of the framework governing consultations with external entities.

In the author’s view, the changes move in the right direction, further developing a model based on less prior intervention by public authorities and greater autonomy and accountability for private parties.

“All of this is moving in the right direction. But [...] the biggest problem with licensing has never been the rules. The problem is the machinery that applies them.”

Miguel Marques dos Santos therefore argues that legislative reform must be accompanied by a deeper transformation in the way public administration operates and in the prevailing mindset.

“The RJUE reform is therefore a necessary, but not sufficient, condition. A serious reform of public administration is essential. And so is a change in mindset.”