On 16 March 2015, after four and a half years of discussions in
the National Congress, the final text of the New Brazilian Civil
Procedural Code was sanctioned by President Dilma Rousseff. Law no.
13,105/2015, which establishes the New Code, will come into force
on 17 March 2016.
The New Code is the government's attempt to provide faster
and more effective administration of justice. In Brazil, a suit may
often last over five years, or, if it is against the Government or
a State-owned entity such as INFRAERO (the operator of many of
Brazil's airports), more than a decade, mainly by virtue of the
high number of appeals available to the parties.
The largest country in the southern hemisphere with a population
of over 200 million, Brazil suffers from an excess of suits that
clog the judicial system. According to the latest official data
released in 2014, Brazil has 99.7 million active lawsuits, with a
growth rate of approx. 3.4% new claims per year. The sheer volume
of
