The organization of the road infrastructure sector in Portugal is closely linked to the evolution of the road administration model, from the time when the Junta Autónoma de Estradas (JAE) was created in 1927 until EP - Estradas de Portugal, SA was disbanded in 2007.
Estradas de Portugal was the result of a long evolution over time, as one of the most relevant public administrative institutions in Portugal. It was part of the central administration until the corporate model was adopted at the end of 2004 and it was transformed into a public corporate entity. This entity evolved into a private law model, supported by a concession contract with the State, which had a contractual relationship with the company and determined its current position within the State corporate sector.
During this long evolution, the company successively underwent different forms, models and organizational, statutory and regulatory systems, which practically involved all the forms of organizing public functions, from the central administration body (JAE) created in 1927, the creation of a specialized public limited company (JAE - Construção, SA) and the establishment of the three Roadways Institutes, IEP (Instituto das Estradas de Portugal), ICOR (Instituto para a Construção Rodoviária) and ICERR (Instituto para a Conservação e Exploração da Rede Rodoviária) in 1999.
Three years later they were merged into a single entity (IEP), a unique organization that once again incorporated and carried out the entire range of public functions of roadway administration.
In late 2004, the IEP was transformed into a public corporate entity, namely EP- Estradas de Portugal, E.P.E., with a view to relaunching its activities in a new operational framework that could provide better results and greater stability for its resources.
A new management and funding model was approved for the roadways sector in 2007, which then included a separation of functions between regulation and operations, the creation of an institutional regulator for the sector, in the form of a public institute, a contractual relationship between the Portuguese State and EP- Estradas de Portugal, SA, as well as the transformation of this entity into a public limited company with exclusively public capital, as the general concessionaire for the national roadways network.
Decree-Law No 374/2007 of 7 November 2007 was approved, which transformed EP, E.P.E. into EP- Estradas de Portugal, SA and approved the respective articles of association, currently in force.
EP, SA was part of the State corporate sector, pursuant to the system set out in Decree-Law No 133/2013 of 3 October 2013, being subject to the corporate governance best practices applicable to the sector, the provisions of the Portuguese Commercial Companies Code, internal regulations and the underlying national and European legal standards for its activities.
On 1 June 2015, pursuant to Decree-Law No 91/2015 of 29 May 2015, EP - Estradas de Portugal, SA (EP, SA) was incorporated by means of a merger into Rede Ferroviária Nacional – REFER, E.P.E. (REFER, E.P.E.), which was transformed into a public limited company, subsequently being called Infraestruturas de Portugal, SA (IP, SA).
