Half the average duration of proceedings is spent with notifications

My friends, this was taken from Público newspaper:

http://www.publico.pt/sociedade/noticia/metade-da-duracao-media-dos-processos-e-gasta-com-notificacoes-1577840

Half the average duration of proceedings is spent with notifications

The study of Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation advocates changes to the format of Portuguese Justice considered obsolete, inadequate and slow.

In Portugal, half the average length of a civil lawsuit is spent trying to notify the other party in the process. The conclusion of a study presented on Tuesday on The Economic Justice in Portugal, which is a partnership between the Foundation and Francisco Manuel dos Santos Commercial Association of Lisbon.

"The quote seems to be a sore point of civil procedure, corresponding to half the average duration of a process," read the conclusions of the work.

The authors consider that the "procedural Portuguese model is obsolete, inadequate working practices of businesses and citizens, and generating unnecessary length and complexity." Therefore, we propose the repeal of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) and the adoption of a new process model.

"The experiences of previous reform of the Code of Civil Procedure, originating in 1939, clearly suggest that future reforms which are merely partial, more or less deep, but keeping the same model and legal framework, will be incapable of producing the desired results," noted without making any comments on the proposed revision of the CPC already approved by the Government and will be discussed in parliament.

The study had as main objectives to diagnose the functioning of economic justice in Portugal and develop a set of concrete proposals to improve the functioning of the judicial system. One is the strengthening of the orality of the process.

"The dialogue face-to-face between the parties, their attorneys and the judge, should be encouraged to the detriment of moments writings, which introduce delays, complexity and distance between citizens and justice," he states.

The simplification of the procedure, without stages watertight or rigid procedural rules, accompanied by a strengthening of the management powers of the judge, is another of the proposals.