On June 7th, 2023, a decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, through which the National Code of Civil and Family Procedures (“CNPCF”) was enacted, repealing the Federal Code of Civil Procedures, as well as the civil and family procedural laws of the Federal Entities.
The CNPCF will begradually integrated at both the federal and local levels, following a declaration by the Federal Congress and the respective Local Congress, and upon request from the Federal Judiciary and the Judiciary of the States, respectively. It should be noted that this process must be completed by April 1st, 2027 at the latest.
Some of the particularities of this new code are as follows:
1. Conflict resolution will be prioritized over procedural formalities, including principles such as orality, and innovative definitions such as virtual hearing, virtual proceedings, blockchain, advanced electronic signature, electronic notification, electronic filing or document, virtual courtroom, digital justice system, and metaverse.
The code’s objective is to move towards digital justice, allowing any procedure regulated in the CNPCF to be fully conducted online, at the choice and agreement of the parties.
It also foresees that the judge cannot deny legal effects, validity, or evidentiary efficacy to any type of information solely because it is contained in an electronic document or data message, without requiring a statement under oath that the digitized documents are faithful and unaltered copies of physical documents.
Likewise, physical or electronic documentary evidence will receive equal treatment, following the principles of functional equivalence and technological neutrality.
2. The causes for exercising the action of annulment of concluded judgments are expressly established, namely: i) if a judgment was rendered based on recognized or declared false evidence, and ii) in the case of fraudulent maneuvers by the litigating parties.
3. The terms “emplazamiento” (summons), “notificación” (notification), “citación” (citation), and “requerimiento” (demand) are explicitly defined, and it establishes the types of notifications that must be made in person. Judicial terms, as a general rule, will start to be computed run from the day following the summons or notification, even if it was made in person.
4. No incident, regardless of its nature, will suspend the procedure.
5. Individual oral arguments are abolished since the judges will be prevented from individually hearing any of the parties.
6. It is envisaged that the Judicial Councils of the Federal Judicial Branch and the Judiciary of the Federal Entities, through general agreements, will determine which matters will be managed in the Summary Oral Trial. These trials aim to obtain a judgment within a period of less than one month. The claim may be submitted orally, and no case file will be necessary.
7. Various precautionary measures are established, such as the protection of people, retention of assets, deposit or security, and asset preservation. The requirements for each of these measures are also established. Additionally, the procedure for decreeing a precautionary measure is divided into two phases: provisional, where there is no need to notify the affected party, protecting against delay, and definitive, where the applicant must demonstrate the appearance of a good right and the risk of delay. The parties will offer evidence orally or in writing, and once the deadlines have elapsed, an oral hearing will be held to render an interlocutory judgment.
8. The possibility of submitting any dispute to arbitration before any legal proceeding or commencing the trial until a final judgment is rendered is established, with the exception of predominantly family matters.
9. In matters of alimony, the procedural timeframes are considerably reduced, and the possibility of registering delinquent obligors in the National Registry of Alimony Obligations is established for non-payment of their obligations for a total or partial period exceeding 90 days.
10. The option of bilateral divorce is included, which can be processed before a Public Notary, provided it is requested by both parties, no children have been conceived or they are still minors, there are no assets or debts attributable to the marital estate.
11. A bankruptcy procedure is established for non-commercial debtors.
12. Federal jurisdiction is established for the resolution of collective actions, classifying them into strictly collective and homogeneous individual actions.
