In accordance with the report “Justiça em números 2021” (Justice in numbers 2021) published by the National Justice Council (CNJ), the Judiciary is organized into 90 Courts (91, considering the newly-constituted TRF-6, having jurisdiction over the state of Minas Gerais), divided into administrative, specialized jurisdictions and Superior Courts, where over 75.4 million[1] suits are conducted annually.
In light of the challenge of managing such a complex system – over 433,575 public officials[2], among magistrates, civil servants, trainees and others – each Court laid down their own rulings to manage the flow of suits, governing the internal organization of Judgment Bodies, Judicial Districts, court and out-of-court registries, as per provision regulated in their internal by-laws.
Notwithstanding the challenges throughout the last 3 years of pandemic, it should be recognized the excellent work provided by courts across the country with regard to modernization of practices and updating of management of suits that allow the Judiciary to normalize its activities in a period of exceptionality, which ensured the jurisdictions effective, satisfying and full judicial services.
Thus, it should be noted that the pandemic moved faster the process of modernization that many courts were already implementing, especially with regard to information technology.
Hardcopy suits started to be processed in hybrid or digital manner; access to civil servants of registry offices, magistrates and judges of appeal courts started to be made remotely – through ‘virtual one stop shops’ – and, especially, examination and hearing of suits started to be performed in virtual environment, ensuring enforceability of sanitation protocols recommended by public health authorities and execution of proper legal process.
Before, if virtualization of acts and procedures was inevitable, with the pandemic, it became urgent, noticeable and present, as court registries across the country made superhuman efforts to ensure that their archives were digitalized or somewhat available on platforms that allowed for virtual access.
Nevertheless, considering the huge amount of management systems for processes used by many Courts across the country, the unification of procedures and communication between court registries and courts experiences some difficulty, as migration or digitalization of a process often, even for performing a simple task, requires procedures that are done manually, impairing the efficiency of services desired by those who seek protection from the Judiciary and hindering magistrates and public servants from achieving their goals.
In this scenario – and considering challenges faced by attorneys, public defenders and prosecutors – the National Justice Council (CNJ) enacted, during the 349th Ordinary Session, held on April 19 of this year, the establishment of the normative ruling that creates the Services Portal of the Judiciary.
This system, which integrates the Digital Platform of the Judiciary – created by CNJ in 2020 – is an integral part of Justice 4.0 Program[3], unifying on a single domain many services and technology solutions used by many pieces of software and management systems throughout the country’s Courts, allowing interested parties – attorneys, defenders and prosecutors – to check ongoing processes, fulfill tasks and submit requests to courts spread across the country, using a single channel linked to the domain gov.br.
In accordance with CNJ itself: “launched by CNJ in 2020, the technology solution unifies the electronic procedures of lawsuits across the country, irrespective of the different systems used by the courts. In addition to the integration, the number of systems used in the country is to be reduced: the number is to drop from the current 55 active systems to 14.
The Digital Platform is one of the products of the Justice 4.0 Program, a partnership between CNJ and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Currently, the integration process of courts to it is ongoing across all 90 courts, estimated to be completed by the end of June”.[4]
This initiative deserves all recognition; commendable in view of the technology solution presented and bold under the perspective of assurance regarding the effectiveness of the jurisdictional service and promotion of access to justice, a core element of our legal system, pursuant to art. 5, XXXV of the Federal Constitution.
The digitalization of suits is a significant progress, as, virtualization of legal archives, with possibility of accessing a suit in full without the need of being present at a court, ensures savings to interested parties and makes it even easier to oversee procedural acts.
The unification of services, with protocols, subpoenas and visualizations of acts and submissions on a single virtual platform ensures, especially to legal professionals – both public and private –, the exercise of their social function more efficiently, reducing costs and making it easier to manage deadlines and achieve goals, ensuring wide access to the Judiciary and effective exercise of the right to defense.
Moreover, it should be highlighted that in a world demanding ever faster solutions, with reduced costs, low social and environmental impact, speed and disruptiveness are key, showing that the Judiciary is in consonance with the interests of society for a more effective jurisdictional service.
Hence, where there exists challenges faced by legal professionals, both public and private, and by the Public Administration itself, when it comes to managing jurisdictional tasks, it is noticeable the joint efforts to make it easier to interested parties, in every corner of the country, to access the Judiciary, allowing then the edification of a better society, in the project of a thriving and just nation.
Author: Pedro Boller
[1] Data from the Justice report in numbers 2021, base year 2020, page 3. Available on: https://www.cnj.jus.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/justica-em-numeros-sumario-executivo.pdf
[2] Executive Summary Justice Report in numbers 2021, page 6, available on: Data from the Justice report in numbers 2021, base year 2020. Available on: https://www.cnj.jus.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/justica-em-numeros-sumario-executivo.pdf
[3] https://www.cnj.jus.br/tecnologia-da-informacao-e-comunicacao/plataforma-digital-do-poder-judiciario-brasileiro-pdpj-br/
[4] https://www10.trf2.jus.br/portal/cnj-portal-vai-unificar-acesso-servicos-eletronicos-da-justica/
Available at: https://www.conjur.com.br/2022-ago-31/pedro-boller-unificacao-procedimentos-virtuais-importante-passo
Autor: Pedro Batistoti Boller • email: pedro.boller@ernestoborges.com.br
