Justice sector performance is critical for achieving economic growth, citizen well‑being and, more broadly, the Sustainable Development Goals. In recognition of its importance, Portugal has embarked on an ambitious agenda to guide the transformation of its justice sector.

Countries worldwide are seeking to transform their justice systems. Indeed, good governance, sound policy design and effective service delivery in justice institutions can contribute to a country’s strong economic performance.

The Justiça + Próximaprogramme (along with other programmes such asSimplex + and Capitalizar)aims to develop a justice that is swift, transparent, human and closer to the citizen, through simplification and dematerialisation of procedures, use of interoperable technologies, enhancing clarity, transparency and quality of information on laws and procedures and promoting justice innovation and modernisation. The current process for identifying modernisation measures represents an innovative and bottom-up effort, with input from a wide range of stakeholders. This process allowed to identify immediate gaps and develop measures to achieve quick successes in the improvement of the justice system from the perspective of users.

This chapter provides an overview of a justice reform agenda in Portugal with a particular focus on measures aimed at modernisation, innovation capacity and strengthening citizen-centric approaches to access to justice.

This chapter describes the main strategies and initiatives to drive justice transformation in Portugal. It focuses on promoting simpler, digital, open and innovative approaches and optimising justice service delivery.

This chapter explores the role of courts in the justice system transformation. It presents the scope, measures and principles, functioning and delivery models of the Tribunal + programme in Portugal.

This chapter examines approaches to enhance the sustainability of the current justice reform agenda in Portugal. It puts a particular emphasis on evaluation and monitoring, including measurement of the justice sector performance, indicators, cost-benefit analysis and stakeholder assessments. It aims to provide for a robust analytical framework based on a detailed theory of change and enhanced data collection processes.

The constitution of Portugal establishes the organisation of the Portuguese courts and divides it into two different jurisdictions: the judicial courts and the administrative and fiscal courts.The constitution also makes provisions regarding the Constitutional Court, the Audit Court, the arbitration tribunals, the justice of the peace courts and conflict courts ():