Through CNJ Recommendation No. 45 of 03.17.2020, the CNJ determined the Corregedorias of the Courts of Justice of the States and the Federal District to adopt preventive measures to reduce the risks of contamination with the new Coronavirus, causing COVID-19, by the delegates and/or responsible persons and users of the Brazilian extrajudicial service, among which: (i) suspension or reduction of external business hours and attendance to the public, in accordance with the guidelines of the local and national Public Health authorities; (ii) authorization of remote work for employees of the public notaries’ offices, as long as it is compatible with the extrajudicial service provision modality; (iii) designation of an on-call regime in case of suspension of extrajudicial activities, observing the care established by the health authorities in contact with the public, for urgent requests such as birth and death certificates; and (iv) suspension of deadlines for the practice of notarial and registry acts, and the reason for the suspension must be noted in the respective books and records.
Continuing, under the terms of CNJ Provision No. 91 of 03.22.2020, in addition to the above recommendation, the CNJ determined that the notaries, registrars and interim responsible for the expedient must comply with the determinations of the municipal, state, and national public health authoritiesThe law requires that the public be given access to the public or that the operation of the service center be suspended, with the exception of the processing and registration of births and deaths.
In turn, and along the same lines, the Chief Justice of the State of São Paulo issued Provision CG nº 08/2020, which provides for prevention measures to be adopted in the Extrajudicial Notary and Registry Services of the State of São Paulo in relation to the COVID-19 virus. Under the terms of this provision, they were authorized: (i) the immediate suspension of the operation of the units of the Extrajudicial Services of Notary and Registry of the State of São Paulo; (ii) the suspension of deadlines for the practice of notarial and registration acts; (iii) the determination of the provision of these services on an on-call basis, which may be in person, virtual, or by other remote service mode, including the telephone numbers of landlines, cell phones, WhatsApp and Skype, in addition to others that are available for public service, which should be disclosed in a poster to be posted at the door of the unit, easily visible, on the Internet pages and, when possible, in the Electronic Central Offices of the respective service specialties.
As the case may be and at the discretion of the officer or delegate in charge, on-call duty will last no less than two hours. Distance duty, on the other hand, will last no less than four hours, and the unit manager can adopt both. The shifts by the units suspending operation will cover: (i) the issuing of certificates; (ii) birth and death records; (iii) the habilitation and registration of marriages when the urgency is justified; (iv) the registration of contracts of real guarantees on movable and immovable assets that are a condition for the release of financing granted by credit institutions, observing the control of the adversary and the chronological order of presentation of the titles; (v) protest stays; (vi) the transfer of the portions of the emoluments to the creditors foreseen in State Law 11.331/2002; (vii) the communications to the Extrajudicial Portal necessary for the generation of collection forms for the fees due to the Special Expense Fund of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo; and (viii) the other notarial and registry acts that are compatible with the staff structure.
The real estate team at DDSA – De Luca, Derenusson, Schutoff Advogados is available for further clarifications and assistance in cases involving real estate contracts and negotiations, including while the preventive measures for reducing the risks of contamination with the new Coronavirus last.