Can you avoid certification in Portugal?

Yes, it's possible, but whether it's a wise choice is another important question.

Avoiding fiscal certification is feasible in almost any fiscal country. The process is straightforward — just purchase and use an already certified POS solution :-).

While this idea has been around since the inception of fiscalization, its practicality should be examined by considering the pros and cons of the associated operational mode.

When you buy an already certified solution, it's essential to recognize that you're essentially acquiring a POS solution. Certifications in each country are invariably tied to the POS solution, even if the manufacturer labels it as middleware or modules.

It's important to understand that creating a 'simple' POS solution solely for the purpose of passing certification isn't feasible. Certifications are typically intricate, demanding precise implementation of every fiscal requirement in accordance with the law. There's no room for developing it 'just a little bit'; it must meet all the specified requirements comprehensively.

Incorporating an additional POS solution into an environment where you already have a unified POS solution for different countries can introduce significant complexity and potential infrastructure issues.

Some retailers attempt to simplify this by integrating the new certified solution with their existing POS solution, but this introduces even higher complexity into an already intricate retail environment.

While it might seem like a great solution for a fiscal solutions vendor to offer retailers the ability to avoid certification, it often results in a shift of focus from middleware to POS. This adds complexity to the product environment, creates challenges in managing the future product strategy, and can pose difficulties if the retail landscape evolves or if a new retailing concept emerges.

In our experience supporting and developing fiscal solutions globally, we've observed various strategies to avoid certifications. Some retailers even resort to using certified ECR systems and manually retyping each transaction. However, these solutions are typically seen as interim and create more problems than benefits.

After careful analysis of the advantages and disadvantages, we made a strategic decision to focus solely on fiscal solutions, maintaining a clear separation between POS business logic and fiscal requirements. This choice aims to reduce the complexity of the solution, rather than increase it by introducing new modules like POS software. We firmly believe that retailers benefit from this strategy, despite the initial appearance of certification complexity and associated costs. In the mid and long term, adopting a clear architecture with only one interface between the standard POS application and fiscal middleware leads to less effort and reduced complexity.

Furthermore, having extensive experience in certifications with our users allows us to assist our users in preparing and running certifications with less effort than initially expected.