Source: Folha's Blog - São Paulo / SP - 09/09/2010

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President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed on Thursday (9) a law that should speed up the processing of a judicial appeal called "interlocutory appeal". Currently, anyone who wants to challenge in higher courts a decision taken in a lower court sends the appeal together with a copy of the case. If the appeal is admitted by the court, the person must then send the original records to the court for assessment.

The law enacted on this farm reduces bureaucracy by ending the double procedure. Anyone wishing to appeal through an interlocutory appeal must send the appeal attached to the original file. Thus, if the higher court accepts the appeal, it can immediately pass the examination of the merits of the action. The interlocutory appeal is used to challenge a judicial decision in cases where extraordinary appeals to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) or special appeals to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) are not allowed.

The new legislation also establishes that the interlocutory appeal can be filed up to ten days after the court decision. The party that may be harmed by the appeal is required to respond also within a maximum of ten days. The process is then referred to the STF or STJ, depending on the competence for the action. According to the Minister of Justice, Luiz Paulo Barreto, the law will reduce the process's processing time by at least six months. "It means procedural savings that can last six months," he said. STF President Cezar Peluso stressed that the new rules are part of the effort to reduce bureaucracy and slowness in the judiciary. "Important permanent changes are not made by leaps, but by small changes with relevant effect," he said. The approval of the law is part of the “II Judicial Reform Pact”, a document signed by the heads of the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches, with the purpose of expanding access to Justice and combating judicial delays.