1. Nobody knows.  It was never set into law.

2. ?

3. Given that it was never coded into law, I'd guess that they are checking the things which ARE part of the law, like tread depth.

4. It was one year from date of entry for me.

Thanks Richard!

The question No. 2 was because I had read in a swiss forum that if you're driving around in winter without winter tyres (regardless of road conditions) and get into an accident, insurance companies would not pay because of that. However, as my car is insured with a portuguese company and no such laws exist in Portugal, I was wondering if that was true in my case.

Rod

whilst your insured with a portugese insurer that insurance covers the liability...

when youhave to change to French Insurance (coz you live in France) then you'll have to do it their way.

For personal safety and simply getting from A to B I would get winter tyres... summer tyres are shit the moment you drive above 200m at this time of year.

I won't change plates or insures for now because I'm unsure of how long I'll be working here (changing to French plates and insurance and then changing back to Portuguese plates after one year would be rather dull ;)).

Thanks for the advice on the tyres though, I'll probably get some by next winter (considering that if I bring my car at the end of March it won't be that much... Wintery xD).

There's always the option of leaving the car parked unless the roads are dry and above freezing.  Go to Brussels, Paris, or Amsterdam this time of year and there are no winter tires anywhere -- somehow they manage.

Yeah, for sure. My concerns were mainly on the legal side of the matter ;)