In accordance with Decree No. 10,278/2020 published on 20th March 2020, Brazil has established techniques and requirements for producing digital copies of public or private documents, which are to produce the same legal effects as the originals.
The current Decree has the function of regulating legal provisions already existing in the Brazilian System as is the case of Article 3 of Law No. 13,874/2019, which establishes:
“Article 3: The following rights for every natural or corporate persons, are essential for every natural or corporate parties the economic development and growth of the country, observing the provisions of the sole paragraph of Article 170 of the Federal Constitution.
X – to file any document by microfilm or by digital means, pursuant to the technique and requirements established in regulations, in which case it shall be equivalent to a original document for all legal purposes and for the proof of any act of public law”;
And also to, regulate article 2-A of Law No. 12,682/2012, which states as follows:
“Article 2-A. The storage, in electronic, optical or equivalent means of public or private documents, composed of data or images is hereby authorized, observing the provisions of this Law, the specific legislation and in the regulation”.
The new Decree has the intention of facilitating the administration and management of public and private documents by offering agility and ease of viewing and advantages of these in terms of storage and preservation of the document itself.
It is worth mentioning that the new Decree No. 10,278/2020 introduced new mandatory requirements so that digital documents can be considered as originals. In this case, we highlight below the following articles:
When digitalization involves public entities:
“Article 5th The digitized document with the intention to be equivalent to a original document for all legal purposes and to prove any act before legal entity of internal public law, should:”
I – be digitally signed with digital certification in the standard of the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure – ICP-Brazil, in order to guarantee the authorship of the digitization and the integrity of the document and its metadata;
II – follow the minimum technical standards contemplated in Annex I; and
III – contain, as a minimum, the metadata specified in Annex II”
When digitalization involves private entities:
“Art. 6 When a document involves a private relationship, any means of evidencing authorship, integrity and, if necessary, confidentiality of digital documents should be considered valid, if it is chosen by mutual agreement of the parties or if it is agreed by the person to whom the document is opposed.
Sole paragraph. In the event there has been no prior agreement between the parties, the provisions of Article 5 shall apply”.
In addition, we draw attention to the new Decree to other positive results that the replacement of original paper by the digital forms, can bring in a social and economic sphere.
In organizational terms, the accumulation of paper and documents in the work place ends up limiting available space, since such accumulation frees space for other activities.
A harmonious and organized work environment, positively affects the development of employees, contributing to better productivity.
Printed documents are subject to loss, incorrect handling and other accidents.
When such material is transferred to digital platforms, it is possible to generate security backups, promote remote access to those involved in each process, and apply advanced data protection features, to make sure that your company’s documents compilation is well protected.
Between 3% and 8% of your company’s budget may be wasted due to paper misuse, and this loss it is also felt by the environment.
Therefore, in environmental terms producing without polluting is an emerging need. Among the five biggest environmental issues in the world, deforestation is one of the most worrying, caused by the improper extraction of trees whose main function is to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and the oceans, which highlights the importance of the correct use of natural resources.