Vehicle registration with the IMT: what changes for every TVDE car

The short answer

Since Law no. 59/2026 came into force, only vehicles registered with the IMT, Portugal’s transport authority, and listed by the operator on an electronic platform may do TVDE.The registration is valid for five years, renewable, but can never last longer than the operator’s licence. With it a number is issued, which is then shown on the car’s sticker. The platform still has to certify that the vehicle meets the requirements, now with access to the IMT data.

What article 12, paragraphs 1 to 4, says

Paragraph 1 sets the rule: for carrying out the activity "only vehicles registered with the IMT, IP, and listed by TVDE operators on an electronic platform may be used, and the platform manager must certify compliance with the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to vehicles". These are two cumulative conditions: registration with the IMT and listing on the platform.

Paragraph 2 says that, with the registration, a number is issued which is then shown on the identification sticker. This number links the sticker on the glass to the specific car, and in practice makes the sticker non-transferable.

Paragraph 3 sets the validity: five years, renewable for equal periods.

Paragraph 4 caps it: the validity of the registration "may never exceed the validity of the TVDE operator licence".

The link to the operator licence

Paragraph 4 has practical consequences that call for some arithmetic. New operator licences are issued for a period of no more than five years (article 3, paragraph 8). If a car is registered when the operator’s licence is already halfway through, the vehicle registration only lasts for what is left of the licence, not the full five years.

The same applies to operators with old licences. In the 2018 version, the operator licence could be issued for up to ten years, and article 4, paragraph 2, of Law no. 59/2026 keeps those licences valid until they expire. The registration of a car assigned to an old licence is limited to the date that licence ends.

The application to renew the operator licence must be submitted six months in advance (article 3, paragraph 9). For anyone running a fleet, missing that deadline does not only affect the company: it can drag down the registration of every car with it.

The requirements the car must meet

Registration does not replace the vehicle requirements, which are in the following paragraphs of article 12:

• type: passenger car with Portuguese plates, with no more than nine seats, including the driver (paragraph 6), a rule that already existed in 2018;
• age: under 10 years from first registration, or up to 12 years for fully electric light vehicles (paragraph 7); in 2018 the limit was under seven years for all;
• inspection: yearly, with the first one year after first registration (paragraph 8), as in 2018;
• insurance: third-party liability covering the passengers carried (paragraph 9), with a wording different from 2018, explained inTVDE insurance.

Note a difference in wording in paragraph 7. For combustion cars, the age must be "under 10 years"; for electric cars, the law says "up to 12 years". The wording is not symmetrical. On a literal reading, an electric car can work until it turns 12, while a combustion car must leave before it turns 10. We will see how the IMT applies the rule.

The platform manager’s role

The obligation to certify the requirements was already in the 2018 law, which gave it to the platform. What changes is the tool. Article 20, paragraph 5, says the platform manager may only accept the registration of vehicles that meet the legal requirements, and paragraph 6 requires it to do so through the IMT data sharing platform, checking, on the basis of strictly necessary information, "the respective registration, number plate, age, mandatory periodic inspection and valid insurance for the TVDE activity". Validation is done by providing, among other information, the vehicle’s number plate (paragraph 7).

If the car stops meeting any requirement, the platform must block access whenever it knows or should have known of this (article 14, paragraph 2). With the IMT data a lookup away, it becomes harder to claim ignorance.

Own car and loan-for-use: registration matters here too

The new law bans loan-for-use and usufruct as ways of assigning vehicles to the activity, with a single exception for the driver who owns the car and lends it to the operator, driving it alone (article 12, paragraphs 16 to 19). That exception depends on the named link between the owner-driver, the vehicle and the operator "in the registration with the IMT, IP" and on the platform (paragraph 18). Registration with the IMT is therefore not just paperwork: it is where it is proven who may drive that car. The scenarios are inI have my own car: can I carry on?

Fines

Using a vehicle in breach of paragraph 1 of article 12, that is, without registration with the IMT or without being listed on the platform, is an administrative offence under article 25, paragraph 2, subparagraph n), which also covers age, inspection, insurance and vehicle type. The fine ranges from 250 to 4,500 euros for individuals and from 5,000 to 44,000 euros for companies. Liability may fall on the driver and on the operator (article 25-B, paragraphs 1 and 2).

What about cars that were already working?

The law has no specific transitional rule for vehicle registration. The general adaptation regime of article 32 of the annex applies, whose 60 and 120-day deadlines are being disputed, and which the IMT can extend to up to 180 days due to delays in the technical tools. In practice, registration depends on the IMT making the procedure available. Operators should follow the IMT’s announcements and have each car’s documents ready: vehicle registration document, inspection and insurance policy.

Frequently asked questions