Reforms of Portuguese Orthography - The Orthographic Agreement of 1990

The Orthographic Agreement of 1990

In 1990, an orthographic agreement was reached between the Portuguese-language countries with the intent of creating a single common orthography for Portuguese.

This spelling reform went into effect in Brazil on January 1, 2009. In Portugal, the reform was signed into law by the President on July 21, 2008 allowing for a 6-year adaptation period, during which both orthographies will co-exist. A group of citizens, led by some well known representatives, do not agree with the reform and a petition was created with 120 000 signatures in order to suspend the law. Regardless, the petition was dismissed by the parliament and the new orthography is being swiftly adopted, from major newspapers (e.g. Expresso, Sol, Record) to dictionary publishers (e.g. Leya) to computer spellcheckers (e.g. Priberam, Microsoft Office 2010).

The legality of this decision is questioned, as the main bases of the International Treaty that governs the application of the new spelling reform are yet to be established, chiefly the common vocabulary drawn by all participating countries, that still does not exist. Also, the application of International Treaties, as per the Vienna Convention, states that the text of a treaty cannot be changed, and this one has suffered at least two revisions.