Portugal was the country that most removed barriers to services in 2024 says OECD

Portugal was the country in the OECD that carried out the most reforms in 2024 to remove barriers to the entry of professional service providers, with a positive knock-on effect on international trade and the global economy.

According to an OECD report that accompanied a services restrictions index, the Paris-based entity said that Portugal was the country that undertook the most reforms out of the 51 countries analysed, reports the business daily Negócios.

Portugal implemented the greatest number of measures to make the country more open to overseas trade in services.

This translated into a reduction in barriers by around 10 points. Portugal was followed by Greece and India with a reduction in restrictions of six and two points respectively.

“In 2024, Portugal introduced as series of changes to the statutes of professional regulations as part of a wider package of reforms.

These changes that affected engineers, lawyers and auditors have made it easier for overseas companies and professionals linked to development, law and accounting to operate in Portugal” says the OECD.

These reforms have “removed the explicit restrictions related to nationality to work in these areas, eliminating requirements that demand, for example, that an overseas professional had to work in Portugal for at least a year to get a licence to operate in the country.

Moreover, the need for foreign professionals to take the equivalent university courses in Portugal to exercise their professions in these areas has also been scrapped.