TVDE driver good standing: which convictions count and when they stop counting

The short answer

Someone lacks good standing if they have been convicted, by a final decision, of crimes in one of four categories: against life, physical integrity or personal freedom; against sexual freedom and self-determination; dangerous driving or driving under alcohol or drugs; and crimes committed while working as a driver. It is not a lifetime ban: someone who has been rehabilitated regains good standing, and the IMT, Portugal’s transport authority, may, with stated reasons, find it met in view of the time elapsed. Since 2026, convictions abroad also count.

The rules are in article 11 of the TVDE regime, in the version of Law no. 59/2026. Good standing is the requirement of subparagraph c) of paragraph 2 of article 10 and is checked on issue and at each renewal of the driver certificate.

The four categories of crimes

Paragraph 1 of article 11 does not list crimes one by one. It uses categories, which means looking at the nature of the crime for which there was a conviction.

Three reading points help apply the list.

It has to be a crime. Administrative offences, including road traffic ones, are not criminal convictions and fall outside article 11. In subparagraph c), for example, what counts is drunk driving punished as a crime, not the fine for a blood alcohol level below that threshold.

Subparagraph c) is narrow. It refers to dangerous driving and driving under alcohol, narcotics or psychotropic substances. Other road crimes that do not fit these descriptions are not on the list, unless they are committed while working as a driver, in which case they come in through subparagraph d).

Subparagraph d) catches everything that happens at the wheel on duty. The type of crime does not matter: it is enough that it was committed while working as a driver. The law says "activity of driver", without limiting it to TVDE.

Only final convictions count

The law requires a conviction "by a final decision, or equivalent in the State of conviction". An indictment, being a defendant or a conviction still under appeal do not, in themselves, amount to a ground for lack of good standing. Nor does the law distinguish the type of sentence: it refers to "any convictions".

If the final conviction comes after the certificate has been issued, paragraph 13 of article 10 applies: the IMT must seize the certificate whenever a subsequent lack of good standing is shown. The platform manager must block access for drivers who do not meet the requirements, when it knows or should have known of this (article 14, paragraph 2), and access by drivers who have ceased to meet the requirements is the operator’s responsibility (article 14, paragraph 3).

Rehabilitation: the conviction does not weigh forever

Paragraph 2 of article 11 opens two ways out, and both already existed in 2018.

The first is rehabilitation. A conviction for one of the listed crimes "does not affect the good standing of all those who have been rehabilitated, under articles 11 and 12 of Law no. 37/2015". Law no. 37/2015 is the criminal records law, which governs the criminal record and the removal of convictions entered in it. If your conviction has already been subject to rehabilitation on those terms, it no longer counts for good standing.

The second is an assessment by the IMT. Even without rehabilitation, the conviction does not prevent the IMT "from finding, with stated reasons, that the conditions of good standing are met, taking into account, in particular, the time elapsed since the events". It is a margin of discretion, not an automatic right. The IMT has to give reasons, and the time elapsed is the criterion the law points to, without excluding others.

Convictions abroad: what changed in 2026

The 2018 law only referred to "convictions by a final decision for committing crimes", without mentioning other countries. Law no. 59/2026 rewrote paragraph 1 and now covers "any convictions, in Portugal or abroad, by a final decision, or equivalent in the State of conviction, for acts that constitute or correspond, under Portuguese law, to crimes" in the four categories.

The wording has two filters. The first is finality: the foreign decision must be final or equivalent, because judicial systems do not all use the same concept. The second is correspondence: what matters are the acts and how Portuguese law would classify them. A conviction abroad for an act that is not a crime in Portugal does not count. A conviction for an act that in Portugal would be, for example, a sexual crime does count, whatever name the country of conviction gives it.

To check these convictions, the law created a documentary requirement: anyone who has lived outside Portugal for six months or more in the five years before the application must submit the criminal record, or equivalent document, from the country or countries of residence (article 11, paragraphs 3 to 6). The procedure, from the IMT obtaining it of its own motion to the apostille and translation, is explained in the article on theforeign driver.

A point that is often missed: this rule applies to anyone, Portuguese or not, who has lived abroad. A Portuguese citizen who came back two years ago from a period of work abroad is covered.

Driver good standing and operator good standing

Someone who is a driver and also the manager of their own operator company is subject to two different checks. Operator good standing (article 4) is assessed for the members of the management or board bodies and has other criteria: a legal ban on trading, a final conviction for criminal offences against the rules on pay, health and safety at work, environmental protection and professional liability, and disqualification due to bankruptcy or insolvency. The operator must send the IMT the criminal record of its managers every year or authorise the IMT to obtain it. They are separate lists, and meeting one does not exempt you from the other.

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