Chamber approves general part of the new Code of Civil Procedure.
The text by rapporteur Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP) prioritizes conciliation and mediation, through the creation of a body that would work to resolve conflicts without the need for a judge; deputies will have until Monday to present amendments; among them is the measure to ensure that cases are judged in order of arrival and the payment of fees to public lawyers who would become entitled to the proceeds from cases won.
Luciano Nascimento
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia - The plenary of the Chamber of Deputies approved yesterday (5) the first part of the new Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), Bill (PL) 8.046/10. The bill was put to a vote after three weeks on the agenda, after an agreement between party leaders who divided the proposal into five blocks, each with a rapporteur. The approved text, called the general part, brings significant changes to the process of handling civil actions in the courts.
"We managed to start the voting on the code with the general part, obviously with the exception of the amendments that we will address next week," said the rapporteur of the project, Deputy Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP).
Divergent or controversial topics will be considered separately. Deputies will have until Monday (11) to present the highlights. One of them concerns the payment of fees for public lawyers who would be entitled to the fees for cases won. Currently, in cases where the Union is the winner, the fees are incorporated into the federal government's budget. The proposal, contained in the text, was approved, but the federal and state governments are against it.
The approved part addresses, among other issues, the creation of general rules for the electronic process, such as simple hearings via videoconference and the review of cases, which will now occur in chronological order as they arrive at the court or tribunal. Currently, there is no such rule, and it is up to the judge to choose which case to hear first.
The rapporteur for the general part of the new CPC (Code of Civil Procedure), Deputy Efraim Filho (DEM-PB), said that the project accelerates the review of cases, preventing some from remaining stored in judges' drawers. "Today, citizens look to the Justice system thinking that the outcome of the action will only be seen by their children or grandchildren, and that is what we are attacking," he said.
The approved text prioritizes conciliation and mediation to resolve conflicts, through the creation of a body of conciliators and mediators who would work to try to resolve conflicts without the need for a judge. Only cases where there is no solution would be referred to the formal legal process.
"It is the search for a consensual solution to the conflict through the formation of a stable body of professional mediators and conciliators who operate throughout the national territory to see if we can reduce conflicts through mediation and conciliation," said Teixeira.
Editing: Fabio Massalli