07/07/2026
On July 1, 2026, the Constitution and Justice Committee of the Brazilian Federal Senate (CCJ) approved Bill No. 3,085/2026, which regulates the relevance requirement for the admissibility of Special Appeals before the Superior Court of Justice – STJ. The proposal seeks to enable the practical implementation of Constitutional Amendment No. 125/2022, which established that, through implementing legislation, parties must demonstrate the relevance of the federal non-constitutional legal issue raised in a Special Appeal.
Under the proposed regulation, the STJ will be empowered to select Special Appeals involving disputes that go beyond the parties’ individual interests and present legal, economic, political, or social relevance. The objective is to allow the Court to focus its efforts on ensuring the uniform interpretation of federal legislation and on the development of qualified precedents.
It is worth noting that the STJ had already anticipated the effects of the absence of specific regulation of Article 105, §2, of the Federal Constitution through Administrative Statement No. 8, according to which “the indication, in a Special Appeal, of the grounds demonstrating the relevance of the federal non-constitutional legal issue will only be required for appeals filed against appellate decisions published after the entry into force of the implementing law provided for in Article 105, §2, of the Federal Constitution”.
Therefore, although the relevance requirement was introduced by Constitutional Amendment No. 125/2022, its application remained contingent upon the enactment of implementing legislation. The approval of the bill by the Senate therefore represents a key step toward the effective implementation of the new admissibility filter, meaning that appellants will be required to expressly demonstrate the relevance of the federal legal issue submitted for review by the STJ.
Among the innovations proposed by the bill is the possibility of staying, on a nationwide basis, proceedings involving a legal issue recognized by the STJ as relevant until the Court establishes a definitive interpretation on the matter. This mechanism resembles the system already adopted by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in cases subject to the general repercussion regime and reinforces the STJ’s role as a precedent-setting court.
If no appeal is filed before the Senate Plenary, the bill will proceed to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration. The expectation is that the regulation will represent a milestone in the reshaping of the Brazilian procedural system, reinforcing the STJ’s role as a court of precedents and directly affecting the appellate strategies adopted by litigants in disputes involving the interpretation of federal legislation.
Authored by: Ulisses Simões e Bruno Braga Boccia
