Frequently Asked Questions

ObraXRAY is a platform that lets you check the legal history and reputation of Portuguese contractors before signing a contract. We cross-reference 9 official sources and run over 20 independent checks. The free search shows 6 of 14 risk categories (insolvencies, PER, tax debts, Social Security debts, IMPIC license, active directors) with a risk shield (green, yellow, or red) computed from those visible findings and a few categorical hard-stops (insolvency proceeding, phoenix director pattern, dissolved or merged status). The full ObraCheck report (€19.99) unlocks the remaining 8 categories, the exact risk score from 0 to 100, concrete recommendations, automatic alerts for 90 days, and a permanent PDF. A contractor's risk rarely sits on the surface: there can be an insolvency, debts, or a director linked to companies that have already failed, and none of that shows up in a normal search. That's the cross-referencing we do for you, before you sign.

References show you the happy clients, not the lawsuits or the debts. And a contractor's risk rarely sits on the surface: a company can have a website, a brand and a tidy quote and still have an ongoing insolvency, debts to the State, or a director who has already driven other companies into bankruptcy. That history is public, but it's scattered across sources that index by company, not by the person running it, so it's effectively invisible to whoever is hiring. It's a common pattern: someone sinks one company and opens another right after, with a new name and a clean record, and the next client has no way to know. When something goes wrong, the deposit is already gone and rarely comes back. ObraXRAY cross-references those sources and the person behind the company, and shows you the signals before you hand over money, while you can still change your mind.

The ObraCheck report (€19.99) includes over 20 verifications: insolvencies, PER, executions and court proceedings on CITIUS with real CIRE phase classification, civil proceedings as defendant across 197 Portuguese courts, edital citations (ghost companies), IMPIC license verification, ACT labor sanctions, director analysis via the director-to-company inverted index we built from scratch, phoenix pattern detection, tax (AT) and Social Security debts, annual accounts history, risk score from 0 to 100, concrete recommendations, email alerts for 90 days (plus SMS for critical alerts if you confirm your phone in Settings), and a professional PDF. The difference from checking manually isn't just time - it's what is simply impossible to do manually: the director-to-company link exists in no public source, the real CIRE phase requires reading and interpreting each proceeding, and the civil court history before October 2025 no longer exists on the portal. If you prefer to verify what is possible to verify manually, we published a free step-by-step guide.

On the free search, ObraXRAY shows one of three visual indicators based on the full analysis of the contractor:

Important: the indicators reflect the full analysis (all 20+ checks across 9 official sources), not just the 6 free categories. If the shield is red, it means real issues were found in official sources.

The exact score (0 to 100) is available in the full ObraCheck report. It starts at 100 points and deducts for each issue found. Examples:
• Declared insolvency: -40 points
• Tax debts (AT): -35 points
• Social Security debts: -30 points
• Active PER: -25 points
• Expired IMPIC license: -20 points
• Director with personal insolvency: -30 points
• Civil case as defendant: -5 to -10 points

The score is a proprietary ObraXRAY measure based exclusively on official public data. It shows what was found and what we deduce from the records, but it is not an absolute judgment on the company. A company with a low score may have resolvable administrative issues; a company with a high score may have problems not yet reflected in official sources. The full report includes concrete recommendations on how to interpret each result.

There are 9 official sources: CITIUS (insolvencies, executions, mass litigation, edital citations), IMPIC (construction licenses), Commercial Registry via NIF.pt, Ministry of Justice Publications (directors, shareholders, corporate changes history), Tax Authority and Social Security debtor lists, Portal Base (public contracts), ACT labor sanctions, and civil proceedings across 197 courts. But the sources are just the starting point. What doesn't exist in any public source: the director-to-company inverted index (built by us from scratch), phoenix pattern detection (synthetic - cross-references personal insolvencies with prior companies), the real phase of each CIRE process (our classification, not a column in any database), and the accumulated civil court history since October 2025 (the CITIUS portal only keeps 6 months).

Online access to the report lasts 90 days from purchase. During that window, the data is always up to date and you get automatic email alerts if anything changes (insolvency, new court cases, IMPIC license changes), plus SMS for the most critical events if you've confirmed your phone in Settings. After 90 days, online access ends and alerts stop. The PDF stays in your account forever as a snapshot of the data from the last update. If the build continues, you can re-verify for 9.99 EUR within 12 months (a fresh 90-day window with new data) or extend coverage with Continuous Protection to keep getting alerts through the build.

After 90 days, online access to the report ends and automatic alerts stop (both email and SMS). The PDF stays in your account forever, but it reflects the data from the last update, not the current state of the company. If the company files for insolvency after that and you are still building with them, you will not be notified and can miss the 30-day CIRE deadline to file credit claims. To avoid that, you can re-verify (9.99 EUR within 12 months) or extend coverage with Continuous Protection before the window ends.

Yes. The PDF stays in your account forever. It is a snapshot of the data from the last update, so it does not update with new records. You can download it any time, even years after purchase. What ends after 90 days is online access to the live data and automatic alerts (email and SMS). If you want fresh data, you can re-verify for 9.99 EUR within 12 months to open a new window with an updated snapshot.

No. The PDF is a snapshot of the data from the last update and does not refresh with new records. If the company files for insolvency afterwards, that case will not appear in the PDF you have on file. For up-to-date data, run a re-verification (9.99 EUR within 12 months) or use the online dashboard while coverage is active. The online dashboard is dynamic and reflects the current state of the company, the PDF is a historical archive.

They are two different things, for two different moments.

Re-verification - 9.99 EUR
You want a fresh snapshot of the data right now. Creates a new report with a new PDF and a new 90-day window of online access + alerts (email, plus SMS if you've confirmed your phone in Settings). Useful when you want to double-check before signing, paying a milestone, or closing out. Example: "Signing the contract tomorrow, want to confirm everything again".

Continuous Protection - 24 / 49 / 69 EUR
You want to keep getting alerted during a long construction. Adds 12, 24 or 36 months on top of the current coverage of the report you already have (extension). Extensions stack with no lifetime cap. Does not generate a new PDF (the PDF stays as the original snapshot of the report). Useful when you signed a CPCV or bought off-plan and want to monitor for the full build. Example: "The construction will last 18 months, I want to be notified if anything changes".

Under the Portuguese CIRE law, anyone holding a credit against an insolvent company has only 30 days after the declaration to file a claim. Without an immediate alert, the window closes. In Palmela, 114 families lost 27M EUR by missing this deadline. That's why enabling SMS matters most on long builds: email can be missed, SMS reaches your pocket.

Yes. If you already bought a report on this company, you can re-verify for 9.99 EUR (50% off the regular price) within 12 months of the original purchase. Re-verification produces a fresh snapshot of the data, with a new PDF and a new 90-day online window with alerts. It is the best option to double-check before signing a contract, paying a milestone, or rechecking near the end of a build. If you have already hired and the build is long, you may prefer Continuous Protection, which extends the coverage of your current report without generating a new one.

Alerts are included with every report purchased, for 90 days, no subscription required. Whenever there are relevant changes to the contractor (new court proceedings, an insolvency declaration, IMPIC license changes), ObraXRAY automatically alerts you by email. For the critical events, we also send an immediate SMS as long as you've confirmed your phone number in Settings. SMS is optional but recommended for ongoing builds, since it reaches you before you open your inbox. This matters especially because in an insolvency you have only 30 days to file your creditor claims with the court. Without monitoring, many people only discover the insolvency after the deadline has expired. After 90 days you can re-verify (9.99 EUR) for a fresh window with updated data, or extend coverage with Continuous Protection if your build is still in progress.

Not by default. Automatic alerts (email, plus SMS if enabled) run for 90 days per purchase and then stop. But if the build is long (CPCV, off-plan, multi-phase project), you can extend coverage with Continuous Protection: +24 EUR for 12 more months, +49 EUR for 24 more months, or +69 EUR for 36 more months. Each extension stacks on top of the time you still have left, with no auto-renewal and no lifetime cap. The report stays the same, what changes is how long we keep monitoring the company for you.

When a company is declared insolvent, the court sets a deadline of up to 30 days for creditors to file claims with the insolvency administrator (Art. 36(1)(j) and Art. 128 of CIRE). The judge sets the exact deadline in the sentence, and it can be less than 30 days. If you don't file within this deadline, you lose the right to be recognized as a creditor, even if you're owed tens of thousands of euros. We published a detailed guide on the 30-day CIRE deadline with the full legal framework, and an urgent action guide for those already in this situation. ObraXRAY automatically alerts you by email if a contractor you're monitoring declares insolvency, and also by SMS if you've confirmed your phone in Settings - so you won't miss the deadline even if you aren't checking email every day.

Yes. All data comes from 9 official Portuguese government sources: court records from CITIUS (insolvencies, executions, editals, Portaria 200), construction licenses from IMPIC, commercial registry data, Ministry of Justice publications, Tax Authority and Social Security debtor lists, ACT labor sanctions, civil proceedings from 197 Portuguese courts, and public contracts from Portal Base. Data is fetched directly from these sources at the time of search, not from old copies. However, our reports are informational and do not constitute legal advice. For important legal decisions, we always recommend consulting a lawyer. If you want to verify the data yourself, we published a step-by-step guide on how to check each official source for free.

Our reports are informational documents based on public data. They can be useful as a starting point, but for legal purposes, we recommend obtaining certificates directly from the official sources (CITIUS, IMPIC, IRN).

Both the Tax Authority (AT) and Social Security publish official lists of debtors with active enforcement proceedings. We built our own infrastructure that collects and processes these lists, and cross-references them with every company searched - both at the company level and for each director individually. That cross-reference at the individual person level doesn't exist in any public tool. Companies or directors appearing on the lists are flagged in the report with the corresponding deduction in the risk score.

When one of the official sources we consult is temporarily unavailable during the analysis, the corresponding category appears as 'Not verified' in grey, instead of clean in green. It's a deliberate transparency choice: we say 'we couldn't verify this right now' instead of risking a false sense of security based on missing data. The yellow banner at the top of the report lists exactly which sources didn't respond. If you see this signal, simply refresh the report after a few hours for a new attempt. Official sources occasionally go offline; we prefer to tell the user about it rather than hide it.

Data is fetched from official sources when someone searches for or purchases a report on that contractor, and cached for 7 days. Since we have thousands of contractors in our system, it's not possible to update them all automatically. In practice, data is refreshed when a user searches, buys a report, or uses the 'Refresh' button on the contractor page. The date next to 'Consulted' shows when data was last fetched.

You can reach us at [email protected]. We typically respond within 24 business hours.