Decree-Law no. 66/2025 was published on April 10, enshrining the most recent amendment to the Public Contracts Code (CCP), published in a Council of Ministers communiqué on March 27, 2025. This amendment, which has its origins in an infringement procedure brought by the European Commission against Portugal, aims to bring national legislation into line with Directive 2014/24/EU (on public procurement), specifically with regard to the subcontracting of “critical contractual services”.

The law in question thus amends the wording of Article 318(4), which now provides that the contract may require that certain critical contractual services – without indexation to any abstract percentage limit – taking into account the object of the contract to be concluded, be performed directly by the co-contractor.