Law No. 8/2017 on Land Expropriation for Public Utility.

This Law, consisting of 69 articles divided into five Chapters, defines the regime applicable to the expropriation of immovable property and establishes rules and procedures for cases in which the State, with a view to the pursuit of a public purpose, is impelled, in the absence of other viable alternative solutions, to call upon itself the ownership of immovable property in the private domain. It specifies the cases in which expropriation is allowed, such as: when the property must pursue a purpose of public utility. The public utility must be included in the purposes or objects of the beneficiary of the expropriation. a) National defense and security; b) Public roads, highways, tunnels, railways and ancillary facilities; c) Public transport systems; d) Reservoirs, dams, distribution structures, irrigation and drainage of water or sanitation; e) Ports, airports and terminals; f) Exploration of oil, gas, minerals and geothermal energy infrastructures; g) Public electricity production and distribution service; h) Telecommunication systems; i) collection and treatment of waste; j) Public hospitals, treatment centers, diagnosis and other infrastructures essential to the public health service; k) public fire-fighting and civil protection services; l) Public cemeteries and Gardens of Heroes; m) Public, social, cultural and green spaces; n) Preservation and conservation of historical and artistic monuments, isolated or integrated into urban or rural areas; o) Protection of landscapes and places particularly endowed by nature; p) Protective structures against landslides, floods or other defense mechanisms against natural disasters, etc.
The Law is divided as follows: General provisions (Chap. I); Expropriation Proceedings (Chap. II); Guarantees of the interested parties (Chap. III); Fair compensation (Chap. IV); Final provisions (Chap. V).