Law No. 31/2014 establishing the general basis for public policies on soils, land use and urbanism.

This Law, consisting of seven Titles divided into 84 articles, establishes the general basis for policies on public soils, land use and urbanism. This Law does not apply to planning and management of the national maritime areas, without prejudice to the coherence, coordination and harmonization of soil policy and land use planning with policy on planning and management of the national maritime space. The purposes of this Law are the following: enhancing the potential of the soil, safeguarding their quality and the achievement of their environmental functions, socio-economic, cultural as physical support to environment for people and their activities, control on source and production of biomass, carbon and biodiversity reserve; ensuring sustainable development, territorial competitiveness, economic job creation and the efficient organization of the land market, strengthen national cohesion by organizing the territory to contain building, correcting regional imbalances, in particular in areas of low density, ensuring equal opportunities for citizens in access to infrastructure, equipment, services and urban functions, especially for equipment and services that promote family support, elderly and social inclusion; increasing the resilience of the territory to the effects of extreme weather events, combat effects of erosion, minimize the emission of greenhouse emissions and increase energy efficiency; prevent contamination of soil, eliminating or minimizing the effects of pollutants, to ensure the human health and the environment safeguard, preserving the identity of the area, promoting the integration of their diversity and quality of life of the people, etc.This Law is divided as follows: General provisions (Title I); Soil policy (Title II); Land management system (Title III); Urban operations (Title IV); Economic and financial system (Title V); Advertising and registration (Title VI); Transitional and Final Provisions (Title VII).

Implemented by: Regional Legislative Decree No. 18/2017/M establishing the bases of the Public Policy for Land, Regional Territorial Planning and Urbanism within the Autonomous Region of Madeira. (2017-06-06)
Amended by: Law No. 74/2017 amending Law No. 31/2014 on the general basis for public policies on soils, land use and urbanism. (2017-08-16)
Repeals: Law 48/98 setting the basis for the spatial planning and urban policy. (1998-08-11)