BRAZIL Trends and Developments Contributed by: Maria Augusta Rost, Ricardo Barretto and Cleso Fonseca, Fenelon Barretto Rost
• energy; • information technology; • telecommunications; • foreign trade; and • expropriations, among others.
• military courts and military judges; • state, federal district and territorial courts and judges; • Superior Electoral Court; • regional electoral courts; and • electoral judges and electoral boards. The Federal Supreme Court acts as the Con - stitutional Court, in addition to other significant responsibilities such as adjudicating cases involving the President of the Republic and leg - islators for ordinary crimes, and resolving dis - putes among federative entities. Among their other functions, the superior courts play a cru - cial role in standardising judicial interpretation nationwide. According to data from the National Council of Justice (CNJ), by the end of 2024 Brazil had approximately 79.9 million cases pending judg - ment. In 2024, about 43.5 million cases were decided. The average duration of cases is four years and three months but in recent decades there have been efforts to increase efficiency and reduce the time required for judicial pro - ceedings. Among the most recent developments, the digitalisation of judicial processes stands out. Currently, 99.28% of Brazilian judicial cases are processed digitally, and this rate reaches 100% in the federal judiciary, the labour courts and the superior courts. Developments in the Role of the State in the Economy Over the past three decades, Brazil has expe - rienced a significant evolution in its model of state intervention in the economy. The original text of the 1988 Constitution, which envisioned a strongly interventionist state, has been gradu - ally modified to favour a model based on indi -
There is also a set of issues subject to concur - rent legislative authority across all entities, such as: • tax law; • economic law;
• production and consumption; • environmental protection; and • pollution control.
This model presents a challenge in terms of achieving co-operation and coherence among the different entities. Characteristics of the Brazilian Judicial System Brazil employs a unified jurisdiction system, dis - tinguishing itself from models that have sepa - rate administrative courts. In Brazil, there are no independent administrative courts. While administrative acts can be challenged before the authority that issued them, the principle ensur - ing access to judicial review means that virtually any administrative act can be contested before the judiciary. The judiciary is composed of the following bod - ies: • Federal Supreme Court; • National Council of Justice; • Superior Court of Justice; • Superior Labour Court; • federal regional courts and federal judges; • labour courts and labour judges; • electoral courts and electoral judges;
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