Large and medium-sized companies [1] across the country will have until May 30, 2024 to voluntarily register with the Electronic Judicial Domicile, a tool of the Justice 4.0 Program that centralizes information and communications about cases in Brazilian courts. After this deadline, registration will be compulsory, based on the collection of data stored with the Federal Revenue Service, but companies that fail to register will be subject to penalties and possible missed deadlines.

The idea of the Electronic Judicial Domicile is to concentrate procedural communications issued by courts all over Brazil in a single place. When registering, all legal entities in the country will have to indicate through which electronic address they would prefer to receive procedural summonses and subpoenas.

According to Justice Luís Roberto Barroso [2], president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), who was responsible for announcing the news, this unification will greatly simplify the functioning of justice.

The project aims to make communications carried out by the judicial system more efficient and effective, and is in line with the set of technological initiatives being promoted by the CNJ to modernize and improve the procedures traditionally adopted by the judiciary, which are often time-consuming, ineffective and very expensive.

The judicial machine, as is well known, has a high cost to society and a far from ideal response, with most courts showing high congestion rates without any prospect of substantial reduction by traditional means - more courts, more civil servants, more judges.

This is a major advantage of the digital solutions implemented by the Justice 4.0 Program: in addition to ensuring faster and more practical court proceedings, the implementation of the Electronic Judicial Domicile is a free alternative to the approaches conventionally employed by the judiciary.

This is another step towards the full implementation of article 246 of the Code of Civil Procedure [3], which for eight years has already established a preference for electronic service - much more efficient and less costly. It is also in perfect agreement with Resolution 455 of the CNJ [4].

In this sense, it is worth remembering that the Code of Civil Procedure has procedural economy and effectiveness as its principles. In short, procedural procedures must seek to produce the desired result, minimizing, as far as possible, the expenditure of time and financial resources.

Finally, it is essential for the parties, and especially for medium-sized and large private companies, which are now being called upon to register on the portal, to know the particularities brought about by the implementation of the Judicial Domicile. 

The tool brought changes to the deadlines for reading and acknowledging the information sent: the person registered in the Electronic Judicial Domicile will have three working days to consult the summons, and 10 calendar days to read the subpoenas, counting from the date they are sent by the court. At the end of these periods, the communications will be considered to have been carried out automatically. 

In addition, anyone who fails to confirm receipt of a summons sent to the Domicile may be fined up to 5% of the value of the case for an act against the dignity of justice [5]. 

It is therefore essential that users are aware of how the system works and are duly registered to receive all procedural information at the e-mail address they provided when registering. They should also keep their registration details up to date and activate the option to receive notifications.

For all these reasons, it is crucial that legal entities ordered to join the program pay attention to the 90-day deadline that began on March 1. In order to facilitate this adjustment period, the CNJ has produced video tutorials [6] and a User Manual [7], which can be consulted on the Council's YouTube channel and website.

[1] As classified by the Internal Revenue Service based on annual turnover. Available at: ANVISA Portal - Company size - Accessed on: March 04, 2024.

[2] Available at: CNJ Portal - Companies have until May 30 to register for the Electronic Judicial Domicile - Acesso em: 04 de março 2024.

[3] BRAZIL. Law No. 13.105, of March 16, 2015. Code of Civil Procedure. Art. 246. The summons shall preferably be served by electronic means, within two (2) working days of the decision that determines it, through the electronic addresses indicated by the defendant in the database of the Judiciary, in accordance with the regulations of the National Council of Justice.

[4] Available at: CNJ - Acts - Acesso em: 04 de março 2024.

[5] Available at: CNJ Portal - 90-day deadline begins for private companies to register with the Electronic Judicial Domicile - Acesso em: 04 de março 2024.

[6] Available at: How to access the electronic judicial domicile - Acesso em: 04 de março 2024.

[7] Available at: CNJ Portal - Electronic Judicial Domicile: User Manual - Acesso em: 04 de março 2024.

Por: Fabiana Ewald Richinitti
Civil Law | CPDMA Team