There are almost three thousand of them, spread all over the country, but the largest concentration is in the north. In between there is a common denominator: everyone bypasses the inspection and is therefore in an illegal situation. The number was revealed in a survey of the public that the DN had access to, revealing yet another factor: With these figures, Portuguese municipalities end up losing about 10 million euros in annual revenue from collected taxes.
The reasons given for this situation are mainly three: lack of municipal resources to inspect; negligence and passivity of the municipalities. Even though, according to the research, these cases mainly occur in municipalities that are further away from the major centers. The information was confirmed by a source from a municipality in the north of the country, who gives examples from the cases of Gondomar, Santa Maria da Feira and Vila do Conde that “these municipalities together must have about 40 illegal panels on municipal land”. “. In view of this, this source even speaks of “piracy”. 🇧🇷It is piracy committed by these companies. By not paying the fees due, they end up hoarding several thousand euros” and, compared to those who pay, “end up unfair competition between companies🇧🇷
In this case, the cameras can act, although the procedure is not simple, as explained by the same source. 🇧🇷if there is billboards illegal in the public domain, legally we municipalities can do nothing. What you can do is, if you have the means, get a crane, remove the panel and place it in a municipal depot, then let the company know that it has a number of days to lift it and nothing is stopping them from to place it. the panel back in the same place,” he says. If the panels are on private land, the situation is complicated, since it is necessary to inform the landowners – if it is possible to identify them -, “and the bureaucratic mechanisms in Portugal take a long time, so the decisions make it complicated on and slow down the process”says the same source.
Cases of illegal billboards are not new. However, the issue gained new momentum after the Chamber of Lisbon took several actions to remove political posters in the Marquês de Pombal district, in the city center. In this case, all of these panels were in an authorized location. That’s why some parties – like Chega and Nós, Cidadãos! – appealed the decision to the court and the National Elections Commission (CNE) stated that the withdrawal was illegal.
But controversy aside, those not involved in the case see the situation as an example to follow. “In spite of everything, it’s a good measure. Those who go for a walk to the Marquês have every right to appreciate the area next door without any visual pollution, because deep down that’s what it’s all about,” says a source who asked remain anonymous. 🇧🇷What we need is for an inspection company to be set up, almost like companies that inspect parking lots in cities. Mainly because if you don’t know the place well, you hardly realize that that panel is illegal or that it shouldn’t be there’ he refers.
Further, he says, this is “also a pollution issue. Not environmental pollution, of course, but visual. billboards in illegal places – and many of them are very strange – is a visual pollution”.
According to Philippe Infante, responsible for JCDecaux in Portugal, this is the case. “When we hit the highway, it’s not uncommon to see several signs next to the road🇧🇷 And many of them are illegal, because they are not in previously verified places and therefore disturb the landscape and, at the limit, some ecosystems”says the person in charge, who also specifies the values it costs to illuminate, for example, a panel of 24 square meters: if it is a private area where billboards can be placed, the value is 3355.20 € / euro per year per panel; if it is on public land, the value rises to 4848 euros per year per panel.
Philippe Infante, a connoisseur of French reality, leaves an example that he would like to see implemented here: “If there is an illegal panel in France and the irregularity is known, it will be marked with a kind of sticker that says “I am illegal” and so it will be flagged until removed”.
What to do to combat these situations? According to Philippe Infante, there is only one solution: more control. “There should be some kind of EMEL [empresa fiscalizadora do estacionamento em Lisboa] of the billboards. It is necessary to inspect more closely, despite the known difficulties,” says the head of JCDecaux.
Source: DN
