1 The Council of Ministers approved today the resolution that extends the declaration of a state of calamity until 23h59 on May 31, continuing the process of de-confinement begun on April 30, without questioning the evolution of the epidemiological situation in Portugal.

At this stage, the government opts for a less intense list of restrictions, suspensions and closures than was in force, without prejudice to the gradual lifting of restrictions and the need to maintain the scrupulous compliance, by the Portuguese population, of the measures of physical distancing essential to contain the infection.

In this sense, in view of the new phase of de- confinement that begins on May 18, the following measures are established:

• authorisation of visits to users of residential structures for the elderly, integrated continuous care units of the National Network of Integrated Continuous Care and other responses dedicated to the elderly, as well as to children, young people and people with disabilities, provided that the rules defined by the DGS are observed;
• authorisation of trips to accompany children to schools that return to classes in person and to day care centers, family day cares or nannies;
• authorisation for disabled people to travel to occupational activity centres, and to attend training and take examination tests;
• adoption of daily or weekly work rotation schedules, with different entry and exit times, in cases where telework is not possible;
• clarification that the mandatory use of masks or visors in schools and in the use of collective passenger transport applies to children aged ten years or more;
• permission to open retail shops and to provide services with a door open to the street up to 400m2;
• reopening of restaurants and similar establishments – provided that they comply with certain rules -, which are exempt from licensing for confectionery intended for consumption outside the establishment or delivery. Food and beverage areas in shopping centres remain closed;
• the restarting of fairs and markets activity, with a contingency plan in place;
• reopening of camping and caravan parks and motorhome service areas;
• the Citizen’s Shops remain closed and may accept appointments for face-to-face service after June 1st;
• reopening of museums, monuments, palaces or similar, football fields, rugby and similar, stadiums and terraces;
• resumption of recreational nautical teaching and carrying out surveys and certification of ships and boats;
• with regard to physical and sporting activity, adjustments are made for professional or high-performance sportspersons, provided that the respective competitions still take place.

2. The Council of Ministers also approved new exceptional and temporary measures in the context of the Covid-19 disease pandemic:

• extension of the exceptional regime for overtime to workers in essential local government services, taking effect on March 13;
• ending of the suspension of activities in the social responses of day-care centers, social day-care centers and nannies, and occupational activity centers (the rules of occupation, permanence, social distancing and hygiene determined by the Directorate General of Health must be observed). Between May 18 and 31, workers may choose to keep their children or other dependents at home, maintaining the support system that had been granted due to unavoidable assistance to their children or other dependents;
• the possibility of extending fixed-term contracts for a period of four months for workers in services and entities of the Ministry of Health, DGRSP, INMLCF, and HFAR;
• extension until October 30 of the validity of expired documents;
• establishment of a special regime for military personnel who opt for the extension of the period of active service under a contract in which it is provided that they do not lose the right to cash benefits upon termination of the contract;
• it is determined that local transport authorities should liaise with the respective transport operators in order to match supply to demand and transport needs, safeguarding the continuity of the essential public service and compliance with the rules to safeguard public health.

3. The Decree Law establishing the exceptional and temporary regime applicable to the occupation and use of beaches for the 2020 bathing season has been approved, defining the rules on access, bathing facilities and the occupation of the beach, in order to respect the recommended physical distance, in particular:

• On access to beaches
  1. The capacity of bathing beaches is determined by the Portuguese Environmental Agency (APA) to guarantee the safety of users and the protection of public health, and updated information is made available in real time (app or website) on the state of occupation of the beaches;
  2. Concessionary entities should signal the state of occupation of bathing beaches using traffic light signs (Green – low occupation; Yellow – high occupation; Red – full occupation);
  3. One-way directions of circulation shall be defined in the areas of access passage to the beaches and distancing of 2 meters, as well as in the walkways, wall, marginal and sidewalk.
• For the use of the sand
  1. Is established the distance of 1.5 meters between each user, except if they are in the same group, and the distance of 3 meters between sun hats (between users other than in the same group);
  2. In the concession areas, a distance of at least 3 meters between awnings or thatched umbrellas shall be ensured; and of 1.5 meters between the limits of the tents;
  3. Exceptionally, the concession area defined for the placement of awnings, thatched umbrellas and tents may be authorized, given the need to maintain the distance, up to 2/3 of the useful area of the beach, with the rental of this equipment being limited to two periods of the day (the morning until 13h30 and the afternoon, from 14h00).
• With regard to beach support
  1. should define a manual of procedures for workers and users;
  2. the area for terraces may be increased, to be authorised by the competent authorities, and may not be used for other purposes
• It is forbidden to park outside the parks and parking areas licensed for this purpose, to keep motor caravans or similar in the parks and parking areas, and to use any equipment for collective use, such as gulls, slides, indoor body or foot showers, and other similar structures.
• First aid stations must be equipped with thermometers and PPE, and must include an area for the isolation of suspected cases of Covid-19 disease.
• Mobile sales are permitted provided that the health authorities’ health and safety rules and guidelines are respected.
• The APA and local authorities should promote information and awareness campaigns to ensure that the rules on the occupation and safe use of beaches are clearly and simply publicised.

4. The resolution establishing the procedure for the acquisition of space for the dissemination of the State’s institutional publicity actions in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic was approved.

Advertising space will be awarded to i) legal entities owning national media, provided that they hold services of general and/or thematic information television and/or radio programmes or periodicals of general information, and ii) entities owning regional and/or local media, provided that they hold services of general and/or thematic radio programmes and/or periodicals of general information, with monthly or higher frequency.

It is reiterated that this measure will have a total value of 15 million Euros (VAT included at the legal rate in force), of which 25% (3,750,000 Euros) will be channelled to regional and local media, in compliance with the provisions of Law no. 95/2015, of 17 August, on State institutional advertising, divided as follows: 2,019,000.00 Euros, to holders of regional periodicals; and 1,731,000.00 Euros, to holders of regional and/or local radio programme services.

This measure will allow advertising campaigns related to good practices and prevention measures associated with the pandemic, helping to minimise the loss of revenue resulting from a fall in sales of advertising space and circulation, creating conditions for them to maintain their activity.

5, The proposed law establishing the alteration of the exceptional regime for situations of delays in the payment of rent due under the terms of the housing and non-residential urban contract was approved.

The measure extends until September 2020 the duration of the financial support foreseen for leasing, in order to ensure that the families have the time and conditions necessary to resume their normal lives, anticipating that the regularization of the amounts due will be extended over time and avoiding the burden with the housing charges. On the other hand, this support ensures that landlords receive their rents on time.

Rents for commercial establishments that had to close or suspend their activity by legal or administrative determination in the context of the Covid-19 disease pandemic are also deferred, and payments are resumed with the limit of the debt settlement period of June 2021.

6. The decree was approved to reopen inspection centers to the public, allowing the periodic inspection of vehicles.

This amendment maintains in effect the exceptional regime of periodic inspection that extended, for five months, the deadline for vehicles with a registration date until June 30, 2020 to carry out the periodic inspection (deadline that is counted from the date of registration).

The management entities of inspection centres may resume their activities, being obliged to comply with the exceptional and temporary measures related to the Covid-19 disease pandemic in force at any time, as well as to respect the health and hygiene rules that the Directorate-General of Health defines.

With the opening of the Technical Inspection Centers for Vehicles, periodic inspections may be carried out on all vehicles.

7. The draft resolution was approved, which determines the rejection of the proposals presented in the process of sale of the shares representing the capital stock of Banco Caixa Geral – Brazil.

This decision was taken after analysis of the report submitted by Caixa Geral de Depósitos and the respective justification, in the sense that the conditions for acceptance of any of the binding proposals presented were not met, considering that none of them adequately and permanently safeguards the property interests of CGD and the achievement of the objectives underlying the sale process.

8. The reprogramming of expenses related to the supply of meals in school cafeterias was authorized. The measure authorizes the increase in expenses for the provision of meals at educational establishments on the continent during the period between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2022..