Legal Regime-Public Utility Entities - General Secretariat of the Presidency

Legal persons in the public interest are characterised primarily by the fact that they provide relevant services to the community, often displaying the role of the State itself, resulting in a special distinction, which is granted on a case-by-case basis by the administration at the request of the association concerned itself.

We are therefore faced with associations, foundations or cooperatives which pursue objectives in the general interest, or of the national community or of any region or district, cooperating with the central or local government, in terms of the declaration of public utility on the part of that authority.

The statute of public authorities — concept, general conditions for the declaration of public utility, competence for its declaration and other procedural procedures — is laid down in Decree-Law No 460/77 of 7 November 2006, as amended by Decree-Law No 391/2007 of 13 December 2006, as corrected by Corrigendum No 5-B/2008 of 11 February 2006.

In the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, the responsibility for the declaration of public utility lies with the respective regional governments in accordance with Decree-Law No 52/80 of 26 March 2006.