Government approves measures that improve citizens' access to public entities that provide face-to-face service to the public

Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 86/2024 was published in the Official Gazette on July 9, 2024, which approves several measures that improve citizens' access to public entities that provide in-person services to the public.

Of the various measures approved, emphasis is placed on the one that determines that all services and entities of the Public Administration that provide face-to-face service to the public and over which the Government exercises powers of direction, superintendence or supervision, ensure a timetable of service to the public in person, without need for prior booking, on a daily basis, depending on the nature of the service, and simultaneously promote the adequate, complete and updated dissemination of information about this service, ensuring compliance between the information made available on the respective electronic sites and posted in physical service locations .

These measures aim to guarantee citizens' right to equal access to public services, enshrined in paragraph 2 of article 266 and paragraph 1 of article 267 of the Constitution, which cannot be unjustifiably restricted by imposition of electronic means.

The Government also considers that the extension of the exceptional measures adopted during the COVID-19 disease pandemic requiring prior scheduling as a condition of access to Public Administration services is no longer justified, increasing discrimination, particularly towards the most unprotected citizens, who do not have access to IT resources that allow them to make this appointment and without which they are excluded from public services.