# Portugal: Law 75/2021 and the right to be forgotten in credit and insurance

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/portugal-law-75-2021-right-to-be-forgotten/  
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## TL;DR

Since 1 January 2022 Portuguese law stops banks and insurers from collecting health information about a serious illness, cancer included, once ten years have passed since the end of treatment, or five years if the illness occurred before age 21, when someone applies for a mortgage, consumer credit or the insurance tied to it.

## Summary

Portugal, Lei n.º 75/2021, de 18 de novembro (Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 224, 18 November 2021), approved by the Assembly of the Republic on 22 October 2021 and in force from 1 January 2022 (article 8). Its summary: "Reforça o acesso ao crédito e contratos de seguros por pessoas que tenham superado ou mitigado situações de risco agravado de saúde ou de deficiência, proibindo práticas discriminatórias e consagrando o direito ao esquecimento" (translation: strengthens access to credit and insurance contracts for people who have overcome or mitigated situations of aggravated health risk or disability, prohibiting discriminatory practices and establishing the right to be forgotten). The law is not specific to cancer: it covers any long-lasting, potentially disabling illness that may shorten life expectancy, as defined in the amended Law 46/2006.

Article 3 gives such people, as consumers, the right to be forgotten when taking out housing credit, consumer credit and the compulsory or optional insurance linked to them: no higher premium or exclusion of cover, and no collection of health information about the condition before the contract. That information may not be collected once, without interruption, 10 years have passed since the end of the treatment protocol for an overcome condition; 5 years where the condition occurred before the age of 21; or 2 years of continuous and effective treatment where the condition is mitigated. Later articles amend Law 46/2006 and the insurance contract regime, including an agreement that must set a public reference grid of terms and periods for each condition, updated every two years, which may be more favourable to the consumer than the periods in article 3.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: Lei n.º 75/2021; Lei 75/2021, de 18 de novembro; direito ao esquecimento; Portugal right to be forgotten cancer
- Tags: law; pt

## Notes

- Read from the Diário da República PDF (files.diariodarepublica.pt, reached through the ELI address) on 4 November 2026. The ESMO Open review lists Portugal's instrument as a 'Law 1 Jan 2022', which is this law's date of entry into force.
- The reference grid itself, and whether it sets shorter periods for particular cancers, was not read.

## Sources

- Diário da República: Lei n.º 75/2021, de 18 de novembro (PDF via ELI): https://data.dre.pt/eli/lei/75/2021/11/18/p/dre/pt/pdf
- André et al., Promoting equitable access to financial services to end financial discrimination against cancer survivors in Europe, ESMO Open 2025 (PMID 41320341): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esmoop.2025.105767

## Connected records

- technologies: [Insurance, mortgages and the right to be forgotten](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-life-insurance-loans-and-the-right-to-be-forgotten/)
- terms: [Right-to-be-forgotten laws for cancer survivors in Europe](https://onco.cc/terms/right-to-be-forgotten-cancer-europe/)

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