Portugal — Legal Help

If detained, you have the right to contact your embassy and to a lawyer (advogado); Portuguese police must inform you of charges within 48 hours before a judge. Lisbon hosts most Western embassies (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland); consular staff can supply lawyer lists and notify family but do not pay legal fees or fines. Age of consent is 14 under the Penal Code, rising to 16 where a position of trust or dependency exists (Articles 171–173).

Selling sex by an adult is not itself a crime in Portugal, but pimping, brothel-keeping and trafficking are prosecuted under Article 169 of the Penal Code. Drug possession for personal use was decriminalised by Law 30/2000 — small quantities trigger an administrative Dissuasion Commission, not a criminal record — but supply and trafficking remain serious offences.