When the husband of Cláudia Moreira, from Minas Gerais, received a notification of charging almost € 2,000 (R$ 11,200) in fines for going through tolls without paying, she thought it was a scam. A visit to the Portuguese finance portal, however, showed that the problem was very real.
Taking turns between Portugal and Brazil two years ago, the couple were unaware of the payment system without billing booths that can lead to a snowball of interest, fines and administrative fees.
“We spent two weeks on vacation touring beaches in the Algarve. Without knowing it, we went through several stretches that cost € 0.50 [R$ 2,83] or €0.60 [R$ 3,40] each one”, she says. “Later, when talking to friends, I discovered that many people had already gone through situations like this, including Portuguese people.”
Debts generated by tolls are a well-known problem in the country, but they have gained new impetus with the issue’s arrival in Parliament, which is discussing the approval of mechanisms to limit overcharging.
On social networks, users share billing notifications that show how small debts turn into lawsuits worth thousands of euros. These situations occur in a very specific type of electronic billing, usually installed on secondary roads.
Unlike traditional tolls, this system does not have a manual payment option. In place of a barrier and a cabin to control the passage, there is equipment to read the license plates of cars.
For those who have automatic collection devices, similar to the Brazilian Sem Parar, the amount is debited normally. Difficulties happen to those who do not use the device or face some kind of problem with the device. In these cases, drivers are obliged to carry out, on their own, a search for the charges linked to the license plates of their cars. The system can be consulted at post offices and on the institution’s website, or even at a network of partner stores and via SMS.
The amounts charged only appear in the system 48 hours after passing through the toll point, and the payment period, which was previously five working days, was extended, at the beginning of 2022, to 15 working days, counting from the following day passing through the toll booth. The list of difficulties and bureaucracies gets worse when debts are not settled within the specified period.
The first step is the notification of the vehicle owner, via registered letter, by the road concessionaire. Drivers then have 30 working days to pay the debt, plus administrative costs.
The address used to send the alert is the one on the vehicle’s registration document. As many people move house and do not update the information, it is common for this database to be out of date. If the amount is not paid after notification, the debt is then forwarded to the Portuguese Tax Authority, which can make a coercive collection, with the attachment of wages, assets and pensions.
The tax collection also includes an additional fine, equivalent to 7.5 times the amount owed –with a minimum of 25 euros and a maximum of 100–, in addition to increased procedural costs. As the figures are considered tax debts to the State, the taxpayer is subject to constraints and sanctions.
The procedures for paying electronic tolls are the target of criticism by various entities, including Deco Proteste, the main association for the defense of consumer rights in Portugal, which classifies the system as unfair and inefficient. “Those who do not have the Via Verde service [equivalente ao Sem Parar brasileiro] is obliged to face a painful process where the lack of information reigns. And if the process goes wrong, something that happens very often, taxpayers can find themselves in the middle of tax execution processes”, says the entity.
The problem, which has been going on for more than a decade, may be about to have a solution. On the 13th, the Portuguese Parliament approved a law that imposes a limit on toll collections.
The project, from the Liberal Initiative (IL) party, received approval in the so-called generality, which implies that it still needs to go through a second vote. “We have one of the greatest shames in this country, which has already ruined the lives of thousands of people: astronomical sanctions for non-payment of tolls”, said deputy Carlos Guimarães Pinto, from IL, during a session in which he defended the project.
“All it takes is one mishap, a change of address or an error in the system for tolls of tens of euros to turn into debts of thousands of euros. to have assets in their name,” he said.
The text approved by Parliament provides that “the total amount charged […] it cannot exceed three times the value of the respective toll fees, without prejudice to interest on arrears”.
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