Source: Paran @ Shop - SPECIAL - 16/06/2010

Disclosed as the project that will revolutionize the Brazilian legal system, reducing up to 70% the time taken to process a lawsuit, the New Civil Procedure Code (CPC) is the object of criticism by lawyers. The speed, which is proposed with the new rules, will be achieved by limiting the number of appeals, increasing costs for those trying to delay actions and the immediate effectiveness of judges' judgments at first instance.

The key point of the new text is to decrease the amount of resources while giving the magistrate more powers at all levels. These changes may result in the loss of the right to ample defense, since tools guaranteed by the Constitution will be denied. "We disagree with the idea of ​​suppressing resources, since they are relatively adequate to expedite the deeds and the existing ones are the minimum for the fulfillment of the constitutional guarantee of wide defense", affirms Alfredo de Assis Gonçalves Neto, vice president of the Center for Studies of Societies of Lawyers, Paraná section (CESA-PR). The entity met in April and drafted a document contrary to the approval of the new CPC, which was forwarded to the commission of lawyers responsible for its preparation.

According to information from the National Council of Justice (CNJ), more than 70 million cases are in court, 40 million of which are in the execution phase. They credit the high number of appeals for the possibility of these actions not being closed, there are lawsuits filed 20 years ago that have not yet been judged definitively. The text of the new CPC strictly follows the position of magistrates, that resources are the villains for the progress of the proceedings. “There was no previous diagnosis to point out where there would be strangulation to the smooth running of the proceedings, if in law, in the poor preparation of its enforcers, in the bureaucracy in the lack or deficiency of the structure of Organs judging bodies”, adds Gonçalves Neto. The change in the operational system of the resources will not guarantee the much acclaimed speed, other factors, such as the modernization of the Courts, investments in infrastructure and the hiring of new professionals should also be discussed.

One of the themes raised by CESA-PR is precisely the need to change the current Code, “there is no clamor in the sense of replacing the current Civil Procedure Code on the part of the national proceduralists or the operators of the law in general, despite being general criticism about the delay in justice ”, says the text. And, if the changes continue, ensure that they are broad. “We perceive the absence of issues that address the electronic process, a point that is increasingly part of the daily life of legal operators. The legislation will require its adaptation to the progress made in the virtual environment ”, he adds.

Now the bill will be forwarded to the Senate Special Commission and, subsequently, to the Constitution and Justice Commission to be then submitted to the plenary. If approved, it will be sent to the Chamber of Deputies. The text has 997 technical articles, which should guarantee a long debate in the committees. In an election year, it is possible that discussions will be postponed to the next year.