The bill comes following the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The draft law introduces a new crime in the country's Penal Code - the trafficking of organs - and establishes the public nature of the crime and its integration in the concept of "highly organised crime" in the country's Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Council of Europe’s convention, which Portugal ratified in 2018, upholds the criminalisation of human trafficking, the strengthening of international cooperation and the protection of victims and witnesses.

It also calls upon governments to criminalise the illicit extraction of human organs of either live or deceased donors when the extraction is made without permission and if money is involved.