Article 17 of Decree-Law No. 10 of 2020 concerning Notarisation

The originals of instruments that have been notarized, or the documents relating thereto, may not be removed from the Department. Pursuant to a judicial order, they may be inspected at their place of safekeeping, the database of notarized electronic documents may be inspected, or copies of these documents may suffice. As an exception thereto, the court or the Public Prosecution, as the case may be, may issue a decision to join the original of a notarized instrument to a case pending before it. In that case, the judge or member of the Public Prosecution must go to the Department so that a true copy of the original may be prepared in his presence and appended with a record signed by the judge or member of the Public Prosecution, the notary, and the clerk of the court or the Public Prosecution. The original instrument shall then be joined to the case file, and the copy shall take its place until it is returned to the Department.