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On July 1, 2026, the Federal Senate approved Bill No. 3,085/2026, which regulates the relevance filter as an admissibility requirement for special appeals before the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).

The bill regulates Article 105, Section 2, of the Federal Constitution, introduced by Constitutional Amendment No. 125/2022, which had already established the relevance filter requirement but depended on implementing legislation before it could be effectively applied.

Under the new framework, which will be incorporated into Article 1.035-A of the Brazilian Code of Civil Procedure, parties filing a special appeal must demonstrate, in a specific and duly reasoned section of the appeal, the relevance of the issue of federal statutory law at stake in the case. Such relevance will be assessed based on the existence of economic, political, social, or legal issues that extend beyond the interests of the parties involved in the proceedings.

The bill also introduces significant procedural changes that directly affect the processing of special appeals, including provisions regarding the qualified quorum, stay of proceedings, transitional rules, effects of decisions, regulatory authority, and a new basis for filing a constitutional complaint (reclamação). The main aspects of the proposal include:

Qualified quorum: A special appeal may only be dismissed for lack of relevance upon the vote of two-thirds of the justices of the adjudicating panel. In practice, this means that a qualified majority will be required for the appeal to be deemed inadmissible.

Stay of proceedings: Once the relevance of the matter has been recognized, the reporting justice of the STJ may, upon justification, order the total or partial stay of all individual or collective proceedings involving the same legal issue throughout the country. The stay may last for up to six months, with the possibility of a single extension for an additional six-month period if a public hearing or third-party participation is necessary. The bill also allows third parties to participate in the relevance analysis, provided they are represented by duly authorized counsel.

Transitional rule: The requirement to demonstrate relevance will apply only to special appeals filed against appellate decisions published after the new law enters into force. The law will become effective 30 days after its publication. Appeals against decisions published before that date will remain subject to the current rules, making the publication date of the challenged decision a key consideration.

Effects of decisions and regulation: Recognition or denial of relevance will produce effects in proceedings pending both before the STJ and before lower courts. In addition, the STJ itself will be responsible for regulating the practical implementation of the new law through amendments to its Internal Rules.

New basis for filing a constitutional complaint (reclamação): The amendment to Article 988 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that, in exceptional cases and after exhaustion of the ordinary instances, a constitutional complaint may be filed to ensure compliance with a judgment rendered under the relevance filter framework, thereby expanding the mechanisms available to safeguard the authority of precedents established under this regime. During the legislative process, the proposed 20% fine that would have applied to constitutional complaints deemed inadmissible was removed.

More than a procedural amendment, the proposal seeks to align the special appeal with the general repercussion (repercussão geral) model already adopted by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), reinforcing the role of the STJ as a court of precedents rather than as a third appellate instance.

The significance of this change is reflected in the numbers. A study conducted by Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) estimates that the new relevance filter could reduce by as much as 25% the volume of cases reaching the Court, which received approximately 260,000 cases in the first half of the year alone. In this context, demonstrating relevance is expected to become one of the key elements of appellate strategy, requiring careful and technically robust legal reasoning from the outset of the proceedings.

Having been approved conclusively by the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJ), the bill now moves to the Chamber of Deputies.

The BRZ Advogados Litigation team remains available to answer any questions and provide guidance on the implications of the proposal for appellate strategy.