CNJ regulates Balcão Virtual – digital customer service platform

Resolution nº 372/2021

The National Council of Justice (CNJ) has taken another step towards the consolidation of a new paradigm for the Brazilian Judiciary. The regulation of the Virtual Branch (Resolution No. 372/2021) turns remote and electronic service into a permanent rule. It is observed, therefore, that this normative act is added to those that drive the technological transformation of the national justice system. This is because in previous moments the rules related to the use of Artificial Intelligence, the adoption of Online Dispute Resolution platforms, in addition to the “100% digital judgment” and the digital fulfillment of procedural acts and court orders were stipulated.

The Courts have until March 18 to provide the access link to the Virtual Counter in their corresponding contact pages on the internet. In summary, it is a videoconferencing and synchronous communication platform for the service of the parties, lawyers and other interested parties for the Judiciary’s employees during office hours. However, magistrates’ offices are excluded from the scope of this innovation.

It should also be noted the emphasis on the CNJ’s objective to widely disseminate the use of this new solution, given that permission was granted for asynchronous communication in judicial units located in regions where the technological infrastructure makes videoconferencing services impossible and, consequently, synchronous communication.

The preamble to consigning “that technology allows to simulate in a virtual environment the face-to-face service provided in the jurisdictional units” ensures the opening for the implementation of facilities derived from virtual reality in the future. In other words, technologies that make it possible to simulate real places, such as the physical installations of the judicial units, or fictitious places, as in the case of virtual games.

The normative act that regulates the creation of the Virtual Counter also has a direct impact on the law, bringing it closer and closer to simultaneity, as the physical presence and the displacements between the judicial units become secondary. This is the most recent evidence of a transformation that accelerated in 2020 and presents itself to the legal community as an undisputed fact.

Wilson Sales Belchior