With the aim of simplifying and speeding up the procedures performed in the country’s public offices and autarchies, President Michel Temer sanctioned Lawno. 13. 726, published on October 9, 2018 in the Official Gazette of the Union (“Debureaucratization Law“).
This rule provides for certain mechanisms and acts through which the agencies of the Union, the States, the Federal District or the Municipalities will have to replace the requirements, among others, for users to present documents with notarized signatures or certified copies, by acts to be performed by the administrative agents themselves.
Furthermore, the Debureaucratization Law also instituted the so-called Debureaucratization and Simplification Seal and the National Registry of Debureaucratization (“Seal“), aiming to foster practices and procedures to simplify the functioning of the public administration and, consequently, to increase the efficiency of the services offered to users.
The sole paragraph of article 7 of the Debureaucratization Law stipulated the form and certain criteria and prerequisites to be considered and evaluated when granting the Seal, as follows:
”(…)
Single paragraph. The Seal will be granted in the form of regulations by a commission formed by representatives of the Public Administration and civil society, observing the following criteria:
I – the rationalization of administrative processes and procedures;
II – the elimination of unnecessary or disproportionate formalities for the intended purposes;
III – the social gains resulting from the debureaucratization measure;
IV – the reduction of waiting time in the attendance of public services; and
V – the adoption of technological or organizational solutions that can be replicated in other spheres of public administration.”
Along the same lines, as a way of arousing interest and encouraging public servants to participate in programs focused on the debureaucratization of the public service, articles 8 and 9 of the aforementioned legal provision stipulate the registration of the public servant’s participation in these projects in his or her employment records, and annual awards for two agencies in each state of the country.
Even so, as indicated above, the Law of Debureaucratization exempts any need for public agencies to require notarization, notarized copies, presentation of birth certificate, voter’s registration card, except in cases of voting and candidacy registration, as well as notarized authorization for minors to travel when their parents are present at the place of embarkation.
In order to replace the presentation of such documents, the Law of Debureaucratization stipulated new standards of conduct for the administrative agent during the service to the citizen, such as (a) analysis of the citizen’s identity document and immediate checking and comparison, (b) comparison of the original document with the copy, attesting to its authenticity; and (c) in substitution of the birth certificate, acceptance and receipt of the ID card, electoral title, ID issued by regional professional registration boards, work card, military service certificate or exemption, passport or functional ID issued by a public body.
It is also important to emphasize the prohibition stipulated by the norm, with regard to the requirement of proving a fact already proven by presenting another valid document. And, if it is impossible to obtain the document proving regularity, this fact can be proven by a declaration signed by the citizen.
In the same vein, paragraph 3 of the legal diploma prohibited agencies of the Union, State, Federal District and Municipalities from requiring a certificate or document issued by another agency or entity of the same power, with the exception of a criminal record certificate, information about legal entities and others expressly provided for in law.
Finally, considering that the Debureaucratization Law does not provide about its effectiveness, it will come into effect on November 23, 2018, 45 days after the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.