Brazil’s new customer-service rules, in force since 2 November, require that in at least 80% of the calls a company handles, the consumer reaches a person within 20 seconds, according to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The rules come from Decree 13.135 of 9 October 2026, issued by the federal government, not a law passed by Congress.
AI and automated systems may sort and resolve requests but may not block the option of a live person from 8h to 20h every day, weekends and holidays included. By our arithmetic, that is 84 of the week’s 168 hours with a person guaranteed, next to at least one electronic channel open around the clock.
Business Pill · AI Agents
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on AI agents: software that plans and acts on a user’s behalf. It explains the general idea only and does not discuss Brazil’s decree.
The key insight: Brazil’s Decree 13.135, in force since 2 November, requires that a person be reached within 20 seconds in at least 80% of calls handled and guarantees a person from 8h to 20h every day, 84 of the week’s 168 hours by our arithmetic; AI may triage and resolve but may not block that option.
The ministry’s note on the decree, in Portuguese: “Em pelo menos 80% das demandas atendidas, o contato direto com uma pessoa deverá ocorrer em até 20 segundos”. In our translation: in at least 80% of the requests handled, direct contact with a person must happen within 20 seconds.
For the other calls, the maximum wait is five minutes, subject to any specific rules set by sector regulators. By our arithmetic, that backstop of 300 seconds is 15 times the 20-second target. If a call drops, the company must call back within five minutes and keep the protocol number.
The path to a resolution is capped at five levels of service. Non-urgent requests must be answered within seven calendar days. Cancellation must be offered at every level, including the first, and advertising during the wait is banned. Call recordings and messages must be kept for at least 90 days.
One week of Brazil’s new customer-service rules: a person must be available from 8h to 20h every day, 84 of the week’s 168 hours by our arithmetic, while at least one electronic channel must run around the clock. Source: Brazil’s Ministry of Justice note on Decree 13.135/2026.
What Was Posted on X
BREAKING: New Brazil law forces companies to answer 80% of customer calls with a human
Kalshi’s post on 4 November, which had about 109,000 views when we read it at 16:57Z. It calls the rule a law; Brazil’s Ministry of Justice describes Decree 13.135, and its 80% figure is the share of calls in which a person must be reached within 20 seconds.
Where AI Fits
The note says, in Portuguese: “Sistemas automatizados e ferramentas de inteligência artificial poderão ser utilizados na triagem, na distribuição interna e na resolução das demandas, mas não poderão impedir ou afastar a opção de atendimento em tempo real por uma pessoa durante esse período”.
In our translation: automated systems and AI tools may be used for triage, internal routing and resolution, but may not prevent or remove the option of real-time service by a person during those hours.
National consumer secretary Ricardo Morishita said: “As máquinas podem ajudar, podem até resolver, mas nunca substituir, evitar ou afastar o atendimento feito por pessoas”. In our translation: machines can help, can even resolve, but never replace, avoid or push aside service by people.
Who It Covers
According to the ministry, the general rules apply to suppliers regulated by the federal executive that meet criteria set by their regulator. They also cover providers of financial, payment and credit services supervised by Brazil’s central bank that operate through digital platforms.
Marketplaces, ride-hailing apps and delivery services must report service data to Senacon, the national consumer secretariat. The note lists complaint volumes, resolution rates, complaint indices and customer satisfaction.
Enforcement and Dates
Senacon may supervise and sanction breaches, alongside other consumer-protection bodies and regulators, the note says. Companies must keep a dedicated phone line for Procons, prosecutors and public defenders. The note does not give penalty amounts.
The decree was published in the Diário Oficial da União on 13 October and took effect 20 days later, on 2 November by our arithmetic. It revokes Decree 11.034 of 5 April 2022.
What Kalshi’s Post Said
Prediction market Kalshi posted on X on 4 November: “BREAKING: New Brazil law forces companies to answer 80% of customer calls with a human”. The post had about 109,000 views when we read it at 16:57Z.
The ministry describes a decree rather than a law. In its note, the 80% figure is a speed target for reaching a person within 20 seconds, while the option of a person is guaranteed for every request from 8h to 20h.
As we read the ministry’s note, the rule does not ban AI in customer service: it lets automated systems sort and resolve requests while fixing the hours and the speed at which a person must be reachable.
As we read it, the reporting duty for marketplaces, ride-hailing and delivery platforms gives Senacon data on service quality, including resolution rates, before it decides on further measures.
Ricardo Morishita, Brazil’s national consumer secretary, 13 Oct 2026
“Estamos falando das pessoas poderem conversar com pessoas”
Three Implications
FOR COMPANIES RUNNING AI SUPPORT The note says automated systems and AI tools may handle triage, routing and resolution, but may not prevent or remove the option of a person from 8h to 20h.
FOR CALL-CENTRE STAFFING In at least 80% of the requests handled a person must be reached within 20 seconds, and other calls may wait at most five minutes, 15 times longer by our arithmetic.
FOR DIGITAL PLATFORMS Marketplaces, ride-hailing and delivery services must report complaint volumes, resolution rates, complaint indices and satisfaction to Senacon.
The framework says: “Proliferation wins where work is embedded in legacy tools and human review is non-negotiable — regulated industries, relationship-driven roles, judgment-heavy domains.”
As we read it, Brazil’s decree writes that condition into rule for regulated customer service: agents may work inside the line, but a person must stay reachable. The framework predates the decree and does not discuss Brazil.
We could not load the decree text itself on the Planalto or Diário Oficial websites on 4 November; the rules quoted here come from the ministry’s note, which summarises the decree. How the 80% share is measured, and over what period, is not stated in the note.
The note does not list penalty amounts or name the regulated sectors one by one. We make no forecast about enforcement or about how companies will staff their lines.
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Brazil’s Decree 13.135, in force since 2 November, requires a person within 20 seconds in at least 80% of calls and guarantees a person from 8h to 20h daily, 84 of the week’s 168 hours by our arithmetic. AI may sort and resolve requests but, in the ministry’s words, may not “impedir ou afastar” the option of a person.
A note on sourcing. The rules are quoted from the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security’s note on Decree 13.135/2026 (published 13 October, updated 28 October); English renderings of Portuguese passages are our translations. The decree text itself on the Planalto and Diario Oficial sites could not be loaded from our location on 4 November. The 84-hour, 168-hour and 15-times figures are our arithmetic.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
