Certidão Permanente: how to request it, costs, and how to renew the access code

What is the Certidão Permanente?

The Certidão Permanente is an electronic document issued by the IRN (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado) that provides official proof of a company’s entries in the Commercial Registry. It replaces, for almost every practical purpose, the paper certificate: banks, clients, courts, suppliers, and public authorities accept it as official proof of the company.

What makes it “permanent” is the access model: instead of a fixed document, you get an access code that opens a portal where the certificate is always current. Consulting on Monday and returning on Friday shows the same document, but with any changes registered in the meantime already incorporated.

The code is sent by email after payment confirmation (see the request section for details) and gives access to the certificate on the Registry portal at registo.justica.gov.pt without needing an account or authentication. Just the code.

What the Certidão Permanente contains

The Certidão Permanente reflects what is on file at the Commercial Registry. For a Portuguese Lda, this includes:

• Identification: company name, NIPC (tax ID), legal form, incorporation date.
• Registered office: current official address and history of address changes.
• Corporate purpose and CAE (activity code): declared activities.
• Share capital and composition: subscribed and paid-in amounts, identification of partners and their quotas.
• Management: identification of current managers, forms of company representation, and history of appointments and removals.
• Registered events (averbamentos): the complete history of registered acts since incorporation (amendments to the articles, manager changes, capital increases, etc.).

A young company has few entries. A company with a decade of history can have a long log, and that history is often what matters to people consulting it (to understand the company’s trajectory).

The free certificate at incorporation

It is documented practice, in the context of company incorporation, for a Certidão Permanente access code to be made available to the newly created company at no cost. Functionally, it is the same kind of code: it gives real-time access to the certificate, just like a paid subscription.

The purpose is to let a newly incorporated company meet the immediate needs where the certificate is usually required (opening a bank account, starting relationships with clients and suppliers, first contracts). The specific terms of issuance and the validity period depend on the incorporation channel and may vary; confirm the terms in force at the time of incorporation or with your accountant. Once the free code expires, if the company wants to keep an active Certidão Permanente to share with third parties, it must subscribe to one of the paid modalities.

How much it costs, and for how long

There are three modalities of Certidão Permanente de Registo Comercial, each covering different content. All can be subscribed for 1, 2, 3, or 4 years, with a progressive discount on longer terms.

For most companies, the fit is the commercial registration certificate, at 25 € for one year. Subscribing for four years (70 €) is a 30% saving compared to renewing annually for the same period.

The prices above apply to online requests on the Registry portal. Requests made at a Conservatória counter may follow different rules; confirm at the counter. And always confirm the price in force at the time of subscription.

How to subscribe

The request is made online, typically in under five minutes:

1. Go to the portal at registo.justica.gov.pt/Empresas/Pedir-Certidao-Permanente.
2. Identify the company with its NIPC.
3. Choose the modality (commercial registration certificate, with documents, or articles of association) and the validity (1, 2, 3, or 4 years).
4. Pay by multibanco reference, within 5 consecutive days to complete the payment (the portal may offer other methods; check at the time).
5. Receive the access code by email after payment confirmation. For the Portuguese version, the code is usually available right after payment; for the English version, it can take up to 3 business days.

The code is an alphanumeric string, typically organised in blocks separated by hyphens. This is the code shared with banks or clients who need to consult the certificate. Do not confuse it with the RCBE code; that is a separate obligation and does not replace the Certidão Permanente.

Anyone can request it (no need to be a manager of the company). What matters is the NIPC and payment.

How to consult the certificate with the code

To consult, the user goes to registo.justica.gov.pt/Empresas/Consultar-Certidao-Permanente, enters the access code, and views the certificate. No account or authentication needed. Consultation is free and unlimited during the code’s validity.

According to the Registry portal, the access code replaces the paper certificate, so online consultation is, for almost every purpose, the normal way to use it. There is no need to print the certificate to give it validity.

Because anyone with the code can consult the certificate, the code acts as a reading key in practice. It’s worth treating with the same care as a professional contact detail: shared when it makes sense, not left in public places.

Renewing the access code

Before the validity ends, you need to request a new certificate. Renewal follows exactly the same process as the initial request (the portal recognises that the company has had a certificate before, but issues a new code). The old code stops working when the previous subscription’s term ends.

Two practical notes:

• Renewing a few weeks in advance avoids a period without an active code. If a client or bank asks for the certificate the day after expiry and it has not yet been renewed, a small operational gap opens that is avoidable.
• After renewal, the code changes. The new code needs to be communicated to anyone using it (for example, an accountant who stored it). For banks or partners that renew consultations only occasionally, this is rarely relevant; for those who depend on the certificate for periodic operations, notifying them helps.

Certidão Permanente in English

According to the Registry portal, the commercial registry Certidão Permanente can be requested in Portuguese or in English, useful for sharing with banks, investors, or partners abroad who do not work in Portuguese. The English version can take up to 3 business days to be issued after payment; the price that applies and how the code is issued should be confirmed on the request form at the time of subscription.

Companies with international activity can hold, at the same time, a Portuguese subscription (for domestic use) and an English one (for use with foreign counterparts). In Limitada, both codes can be stored side by side and shared according to the situation.

Certidão Permanente vs paper certificate

The paper certificate, obtained at a Commercial Registry office, still exists. It is useful in very specific situations: certain judicial processes, some foreign notaries that do not yet accept the digital version, or when a document with a physical seal is required.

For the vast majority of uses, the Certidão Permanente is faster, always current, and easier to share. The paradigm has definitively moved to digital, and today it is rare in Portugal to find an entity that does not accept or does not prefer the Certidão Permanente.

How to share with banks and third parties

The Certidão Permanente is often requested by:

• Banks, for opening a corporate account, contracting credit, or periodic verification under anti-money-laundering duties.
• Clients who require formal proof of the existence and structure of the company before contracting.
• Suppliers during vendor onboarding.
• Public authorities in tenders and applications.
• Accountants, lawyers, or other representatives at the start of a relationship or in specific processes.

In all these cases, what is shared is the access code, not the PDF. The consulting party generally prefers the code, because it guarantees they are looking at the current version of the certificate rather than a potentially stale copy.

In Limitada, the Certidão Permanente code lives in the Company Card, alongside the NIPC, address, and RCBE code. Just select what to share and export as text, image, or PDF ready to send by email or WhatsApp. No digging through phone notes, no screenshotting the screen.

This article is for information only. The prices and available modalities are those in force at the update date; for exact prices at the moment of subscription, consult the Registry portal. For specific decisions on the modality that fits your company, a lawyer or certified accountant can guide.