No. 249

Federal Official Gazette

DECREE No. 13,135, OF OCTOBER 9, 2026

Regulates the Consumer Protection Code and establishes new guidelines and rules for the Customer Service – SAC, revoking Decree No. 11,034/2022.

The rule applies to suppliers of products and services regulated by the federal Executive Branch, in accordance with the criteria established by the respective regulatory body or agency. The main provisions include:

• availability of at least one electronic service channel 24 hours a day, seven days a week;
• real-time electronic service by a human being, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day;
• mandatory telephone service, with human service from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week;
• immediate human telephone service at any time for urgent requests, the cases of which shall be defined by the regulatory bodies;
• possibility of using artificial intelligence and other automated procedures, provided that the option of human service is preserved;
• a limit of five levels in telephone and electronic channels, with the option of human service and of cancellation at any stage;
• human telephone service within 20 seconds for at least 80% of requests, and within 300 seconds for the remainder, unless a specific sectoral rule exists;
• call-back within 300 seconds when there is an accidental interruption before completion;
• prohibition on requiring the consumer to repeat the request or restart the service;
• retention of the history of requests for at least six months and of recordings and messages for 90 days;
• response to non-urgent requests within seven calendar days; and

suspension of an unsolicited service or an undue charge within 48 hours.

Analysis: the rule has a direct operational impact on health plan operators and benefits administrators, since Article 20 of RN No. 623/2024 requires cumulative compliance with the general SAC rules and the sectoral regulation of the ANS. Operators will need to carry out a comparative analysis between the new decree and RN No. 623/2024, especially as to human service hours, operation of electronic channels, number of menu levels, waiting times, call-back of interrupted calls, cancellation, integration of history and response deadlines. The impact tends to be greater for small and medium-sized operators, exclusively dental operators and philanthropic operators, for which RN No. 623 allows, in certain situations, human service limited to business days. Any regulation or guidance from the ANS on the points where the decree assigns complementary authority to regulatory agencies also deserves monitoring. The call for input currently directed at operators’ ombudsman offices should be interpreted in light of the new regime.

Attached: comparative table of the changes

ANS OPERATIONAL RESOLUTION No. 3,176, OF OCTOBER 9, 2026

Provides for the establishment of a fiscal management regime (direção fiscal) at the operator SÃO FRANCISCO ASSISTÊNCIA MÉDICA LTDA.