By Camillo Giamundo

The former Code of Civil Procedure (“CPC”) was published in January 1973 and governed the Brazilian civil procedure system for more than 40 years. During this period, some amendments were made to the text of the law, with the aim of adapting the code to reality and modern times, and in pursuit of greater certainty and speed.

However, even though several changes were made, procedural legislation needed updating and the adoption of more practical and therefore faster procedures to help the work of everyone involved in proceedings: parties, lawyers, prosecutors, judges and court officials.

According to the National Council of Justice, the first instance is the most overloaded segment of the Judiciary and, consequently, the one that provides judicial services furthest below the desired quality.

Thus, in force since March 18 of this year, the new CPC significantly changes procedural rules, with a considerable impact on the work of legal practitioners and litigants.

Below we highlight some of these changes and new features:

– Mandatory registration of companies in the case management system: with the exception of micro and small enterprises, public and private companies are required to register with the electronic case management systems in order to receive summonses and notices, which will preferably be served by this means (art. 246, §1). Companies must comply with this requirement within 30 (thirty) days from the date of registration of the legal entity’s articles of incorporation, before the court where they have their headquarters or a branch (art. 1,051).

– Service received by an employee or doorman is valid: in service by mail, delivery of the writ to the legal entity’s employee responsible for correspondence will be valid (art. 248, §2). In condominium buildings or gated developments with access control, delivery of the writ to the doorman responsible for receiving correspondence will be valid; the doorman may, however, refuse to receive it if they declare in writing, under penalty of law, that the addressee is absent (art. 248, §4);

– Procedural deadlines in business days: under the former CPC, procedural deadlines were counted including holidays and weekends. Now, deadlines in days set by law or by the judge will be counted only in business days (art. 219)

– Conciliation or Mediation Hearing: as soon as a new action is filed, plaintiff and defendant will be summoned to attend, accompanied by a lawyer or public defender, a conciliation or mediation hearing (art. 250, IV). Attendance at the hearing is mandatory for both parties, under penalty of a fine, except where both plaintiff and defendant state that they are not interested in holding it (art. 334, §4, I and art. 334, §8);

– Defense: as seen above, after the action is filed, the parties will be called to a conciliation or mediation hearing. If no settlement is reached, the proceedings will continue normally, with a 15-day period for filing a defense starting from the date of the hearing (art. 335, I). If the parties have requested the cancellation of the conciliation hearing, the period for filing a defense begins on the date that request is filed (art. 335, II).

– Court decisions must be well reasoned: the new CPC prohibits brief, terse decisions based solely on the text of the law but lacking detail on the merits of the case. Now, a court decision, whether an interlocutory decision, judgment or appellate judgment, must explain the relationship between the legal provision and the case or issue decided, explaining the specific reason why the legal concepts apply, and meet several other requirements (art. 489, §1).

– Standardized appeal deadlines: All appeals, including internal interlocutory appeals, except motions for clarification, will have a 15-day deadline for filing and response (art. 1,003, §5 and article 1,070);

– Increased attorneys’ fees in the event of appeal: In order to avoid dilatory appeals, which were flooding the Judiciary, the new CPC provides that the court, when deciding an appeal, will increase the fees previously set, taking into account the additional work performed at the appellate level (art. 85, §11).

In addition to the new features highlighted above, Law 13,105/15 changed and introduced innovations in several other parts of procedural rules.

The full text of the new CPC can be accessed on the Planalto website (in Portuguese): http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2015-2018/2015/Lei/L13105.htm