Part VI
Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters
CHAPTER II
Request for assistance
Article 152
Procedure
4. The execution of letters rogatory shall be refused in the following cases : where the requested authority is not empowered to execute the measures sought, without prejudice of the transmission of the letter rogatory to the competent judicial authority if such authority is a Portuguese authority ; where the measures sought are forbidden by law or contrary to the Portuguese "ordre public" ;
where the execution of the letter rogatory offends the sovereignty or the security of the State ; where the measures imply the execution of a decision of a foreign court, and that decision must have previously been reviewed and confirmed and that decision has not been reviewed and confirmed.
5. Other requests, in particular requests relating to criminal records, to the verification of the identity of a person and mere requests for information, may be directly forwarded to the competent authorities or entities and, once complied with, the result communicated back through the same channels.
6. The provisions of paragraph 4 above shall apply mutatis mutandis to requests that do not take the form of a letter rogatory.
7. The provisions of paragraph 3 above shall apply mutatis mutandis to letters rogatory addressed by any competent Portuguese judicial authority to any foreign authorities; letters rogatory shall be issued in every instance where any competent Portuguese judicial authority deems that such is necessary in order to obtain evidence of any fact that is essential either to the prosecution or to the defence.
EDIT.