BRAZIL Law and Practice Contributed by: Maria Augusta Rost and Ricardo Barretto, Fenelon Barretto Rost
Fenelon Barretto Rost SHIS QL 04 Conjunto 04, Casa 15
Brasília/DF 71610-245 Brazil Tel: +55 613 963 1015 Email: info@fbr.law Web: www.fbr.law
1. Jurisdiction 1.1 General Rules or Specific Regimes? In judicial challenges to government decisions, the judiciary must apply the relevant public law, considering the federative level (whether the Union, states, federal district or municipalities) as well as the public entity to which the official who issued the decision is accountable. The judiciary must adhere to constitutional and legal principles and rules governing all government acts, alongside specific local and sectoral regu - lations relevant to the case. Notably, the Federal Constitution of 1988 establishes that the power to regulate certain public law matters may rest solely with one federative entity, be shared among all entities or be concurrent, meaning that legislative authority is divided between the Union, states and the federal district. 1.2 Forum for Judicial Review Several factors influence the determination of the appropriate judicial forum for challenging government acts in Brazil. If the official or insti - tution responsible for the contested decision belongs to the federal government, the federal courts are typically responsible. If they belong to a state or municipality, the case generally falls under the jurisdiction of the state courts.
Judicial proceedings usually begin in a lower court before a trial judge. However, depend - ing on the authority that issued the decision and the type of legal action involved, the case may need to be filed directly with a higher court, such as a state court of justice, a federal regional court or even one of the superior courts (such as the Superior Court of Justice or the Federal Supreme Court). For example: • A challenge to an act by a director of a feder - al regulatory agency would be filed in a lower federal court and handled by a federal judge. • A writ of mandamus against an act by the President of the Republic must be filed directly with the Federal Supreme Court. • If the contested act was issued by a minister of state, the writ of mandamus should be brought before the Superior Court of Justice.
2. Target of Challenge 2.1 Determining Susceptibility
Government acts must comply with the require - ments and formalities set out in public law, which public officials are bound to follow. Failure to
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