Lisbon, May 1, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing has ordered the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), the National Communications Authority (Anacom) and the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT) to carry out audits into the electricity blackout with conclusions in 20 days.

On Wednesday, the Ministry issued three orders directing the regulators "to conduct audits and a technical and in-depth analysis of the incidents during last Monday's blackout".

In a statement, the Ministry said that "this independent, prioritised and urgent assessment will be translated into a report drawn up by each of the entities", and that "the document must be presented within a maximum of 20 days and must also include clear conclusions and concrete recommendations".

According to the government, in the case of Anacom, it took into account "the significant impact of the blackout on the services provided by various electronic communications companies, which affected citizens, essential services and critical state structures" and "the implications of the interruption on the continuity of emergency services, security, civil protection, health and other vital areas for the functioning of the country."

As such, the organisation must include in the audit the identification of the "technical and operational causes of the interruption of services" and an assessment of the "resilience, redundancy and recovery capacity of the networks and services of the electronic communications companies involved, as well as the infrastructure owners".

The failure prevention, detection and mitigation mechanisms will also be checked, and the effectiveness of "communications between electronic communications companies and public authorities during the event" will be ascertained.

The government also wants an assessment of the impact on critical and essential services, highlighting emergency and civil protection systems, "compliance with legal and regulatory obligations by electronic communications companies or infrastructure owners" and proposals for "corrective, structural, regulatory or other" measures that are deemed appropriate to "ensure the operation, resilience and security of national communications networks" and the provision of the respective services.

In the case of ANAC, the government has determined that the "technical and operational causes of the interruption or marked degradation of the various services that make up the civil aviation sector, namely the airport system or the provision of air navigation services" must be identified.

The "resilience, redundancy and recovery capacity of the civil aviation sector", including the airport system, the provision of air navigation services, and air transport operations, will also be assessed.

The audit also aims to "verify the mechanisms in place to prevent, detect and mitigate failures", such as the existence, activation and implementation of contingency plans and to ascertain "the effectiveness of communications and reporting between the sector's agents" and between them and the public authorities.

The impact on critical and essential services, namely emergency and civil protection systems, compliance with legal obligations, and proposed corrective measures, will also be analysed.

Finally, in the case of the IMT, the analysis must include "identifying the impacts on the completeness and functionality of the infrastructure", assessing the operational capacity of the infrastructure managers and the "resilience, redundancy and recovery capacity of the transport operators" services", as well as those of the infrastructure owners.

The regulator will also have to verify the "failure prevention, detection and mitigation mechanisms in place", i.e. the existence, activation and implementation of contingency plans and ascertain the effectiveness of communications and reporting between agents and public authorities during the blackout.

It will also assess the impact "on critical and essential services, particularly emergency and civil protection systems" and the services provided and the "fulfilment of legal, regulatory and contractual public service obligations by agents in the above-mentioned sectors or infrastructure owners".

The IMT must then propose corrective and other measures deemed necessary.

A generalised power cut affected Portugal and Spain for around 10 to 11 hours on Monday, and the authorities have yet to provide an explanation.

Closed airports, transport and traffic congestion in major cities and fuel shortages were some of the consequences of the blackout.

ALN/ADB // ADB.

Lusa