Brazil’s National Council of Justice (CNJ) suspended procedural deadlines nationwide for Nov. 12 and 13 after Microsoft 365 instability disrupted judicial operations, highlighting how Microsoft 365 disruptions can affect court operations.
The CNJ’s Portaria 551/2026, signed Friday by council President Edson Fachin, sets Monday, Nov. 16, as the date deadlines resume. The administrative order covers courts nationwide.
Microsoft’s incident updates listed Outlook, Teams and Copilot among the affected services. Downdetector recorded user reports from multiple countries, indicating that the disruption extended beyond Brazil.
Brazilian lawmaker Sâmia Bomfim used the outage to argue for digital sovereignty. In a Nov. 13 post on X, she pointed to public agencies’ use of Microsoft services in critical areas and said disruptions can affect services essential to government. Her proposal would give Brazil greater control over digital systems and information it considers strategic.
The proposal was already in progress before the outage. Folha reported on Oct. 28 that Bomfim had filed it earlier. The CNJ’s order sets the next concrete step for court operations: deadlines resume Monday, Nov. 16.
