Monique Vieira Lessa
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
The National Council of Justice approved an amendment to Resolution 322/2020, which establishes the resumption of face-to-face services in the Judiciary and of procedural deadlines that are processed physically, provided that the necessary measures to prevent contagion from COVID-19 are observed.
The normative act determines that as of June 15, the resumption of in-person activities should occur gradually, if sanitary and public health conditions are found to make it possible, and this finding should be based on technical information provided by the government’s health authorities.
Courts that decide to resume their in-person activities will have a period of ten days from the date of the decision to prepare for the resumption, issuing safety rules and making the necessary sanitary adaptations to prevent the spread of the virus on the premises of the courts.
In principle, access to the Judiciary’s premises will be restricted to judges, civil servants, members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and Public Defender’s Office, lawyers, experts and court assistants, as well as parties and interested parties who demonstrate the need for face-to-face assistance, while the public will continue to be served virtually.
The resolution also reserved the possibility for the courts to choose to maintain the suspension of procedural deadlines and in-person service for the period they deem necessary, if they are located in federal units with measures restricting locomotion or if they decide to continue with the extraordinary on-call regime provided for in Resolution 314/202, as occurred with the Labor Court of the Second Region, in São Paulo, which claimed it needed more time to draw up a plan to resume the forums.
Finally, the resolution established which acts may be carried out in person at this first moment, including the execution of court orders by civil servants who are not in risk groups, expert opinions and interviews and evaluations, in compliance with the rules on social distancing and reducing the concentration of people, as well as the health precautions indicated by the competent bodies.
We would therefore like to inform you that this and other changes resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic are being constantly monitored by the entire team at Marcos Martins Advogados, which is committed to informing and guiding its clients and is at the complete disposal of anyone who needs it.
