Ease of starting a business
Portugal
Starting a company without visiting multiple offices
Empresa na Hora
What the evidence shows
The evaluation found more firm entry and employment, mainly in small businesses. Firms induced to enter by the reform had lower initial survival. The abstract consulted does not support a chart with a precise effect size. [1][2]
Empresa na Hora brings company formation into a single office, using pre-approved templates and linked registers. Simplification reduces the steps needed to start a business. [1][2]
Choose a company template
Form and register at one office
Track operation and survival
Costs and delivery
The fee advertised when checked on 29 October 2026 was €360. This is the charge to the applicant, not the public cost of the reform or the cost per job created. [1][2]
Limits of the comparison
Fast registration does not remove sector-specific permits or a shortage of credit or customers. Short-term results do not guarantee productive, lasting firms.
OpenGov3's interpretation
What it can teach Brazil
How can we track time to operation, survival and jobs, beyond the number of new registrations?
What to monitor when adapting it
- Time and steps until the business starts operating
- Active firms and survival after registration
- Additional jobs, compared with similar businesses
- Applicant fee and public cost of the simplification
These are criteria for analysis, not commitments already made or estimated outcomes for Brazil. A well-documented practice is not, by itself, causal proof of an entire country's success.
Sources consulted
Consulted on 10/29/2026. Each result retains its observed period; institutional descriptions and impact evaluations have different scopes.
- Empresa na Hora — Justiça (opens in a new tab)
Official service page: steps, documents and fee; it does not evaluate impact.
- Branstetter et al. — Do Entry Regulations Deter Entrepreneurship and Job Creation? (2010) (opens in a new tab)
2010 working paper on firm entry, employment and business quality in Portugal.