外国律师事务所驻华代表机构管理条例 Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms in China Regulations

ice and its representatives can only engage in the following business activities, excluding Chinese legal affairs:

　　1. to provide clients with consultancy on the legislation of the country/region where the lawyers of the law firm are permitted to engage in lawyer's professional work, and on international conventions and practices;

　　2. to handle, when entrusted by clients or Chinese law firms, legal affairs of the country/region where the lawyers of the law firm are permitted to engage in lawyer's professional work;

　　3. to entrust, on behalf of foreign clients, Chinese law firms to deal with Chinese legal affairs;

　　4. to enter into contracts to maintain long-term entrustment relations with Chinese law firms for legal affairs; and

　　5. to provide information on the impact of the Chinese legal environment.

　　Entrustment allows the foreign representative office to directly instruct lawyers in the entrusted Chinese law firm, as agreed between both parties.

　　Representative Offices and their representatives should neither engage in any legal services other than those set out in (1) and (2) of this article, nor engage in any other profit-making activities.

　　Article 16　The Representative Offices should not employ lawyers admitted to practise law in China; the support personnel they employ shall not provide any legal service to clients.

　　Article 17　The Representative Offices and their representatives may not:

　　1. produce any false evidence, conceal any facts or intimidate or lure any person by promise of gains to produce any false evidence, or impede the other party's lawful obtaining of evidence;

　　2. take advantage of the opportunity to provide legal services to accept clients' properties or any unlawful benefit; or

　　3. disclose any of its clients' trade secrets or breach their privacy.

　　Article 18　The representatives shall not hold representation in two or more than two Representative Offices simultaneously.

　　Article 19　Representatives of the Representative Offices shall stay in China for no less than six months

within one year; those who fail to do so will not be permitted to renew their registrations in the following year.

　　Article 20　The Representative Offices may charge their clients for the provision of legal services set out in these Regulations and such fees must be settled within China.

　　PART FOUR　SUPERVISION AND ADMINISTRATION

　　Article 21　The judicial administrative department of the State Council and of the people's government of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government will be responsible for the supervision and administration of Representative Offices and their representatives.

　　Article 22　The Representative Offices shall, by 31 March every year, submit to the relevant judicial administrative departments of the people's government of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the central government where they are located their practice licences, duplicate copies of the practising certificates of the representatives and the following materials of the previous year for annual inspection:

　　1. circumstances concerning its legal services, including entrustment to Chinese law firms for handling legal affairs;

　　2. its annual financial statements audited by an accounting firm and the settlement receipts and tax payment receipts in China;

　　3. change in representatives and in employment of Chinese support personnel;

　　4. information about the representatives' residence in China;

　　5. circumstances of registration of the Representative Offices and their representatives; and

　　6. other matters regarding the Representative Office's fulfilment of other obligations under these Regulations.

　　After a judicial administrative department of the people's government of a province, an autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government has completed the annual inspection of a Representative Office, it shall prepare an inspection opinion and submit the same to the judicial administrative department of the State Council for its record.

　　Article 23　Fees charged by the judicial administrative departments of the people's government of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the central government according to law for registration of the Representative Offices and the representatives and for annual inspection should be in strict compliance with the standards applicable to domestic Chinese law firms and practising lawyers set by the department for pricing under the State Council. The fees collected shall all be handed over to the State treasury.

　　The decision to impose penalties and the collection of fines shall be conducted separately in accordance with relevant laws and administrative regulations when the judicial administrative department of the people's government of provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the central government imposes fines as an administrative penalty according to law. The fines collected and the illegal income confiscated according to law shall all be handed over to the State treasury.

　　PART FIVE　LEGAL LIABILITY

　　Article 24　If a Representative Office or its representatives commit any activity endangering State security, public security or disrupting the social order, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with provisions on crimes of endangering State security, crimes of endangering public security and crimes of disrupting the social order of the Criminal Law, and the judicial administrative department of the State Council shall revoke the practice licence of the Representative Office or revoke the practising certificate(s) of the representative(s). If the activities do not meet the standard of criminal punishment, punishment in respect of public security shall be pursued according to the law, and the judicial administrative department of the State Council s

hall also revoke the practice licence of the Representative Office or revoke the practising certificate(s) of the representative(s).

　　Article 25　If a Representative Office or any of its representatives conduct activities in violation of Article 15 of these Regulations and unlawfully engage in legal services or other profit-making activities, the judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government shall impose a suspension of business within a time limit; where the circumstances are serious, the judicial administrative department of the State Council shall revoke the practice licence of the Representative Office or revoke the practising certificate(s) of the representative(s).

　　If a Representative Office or its representative conducts any of the activities set out above, their illegal income shall be confiscated by the relevant judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government; and a fine of not less than Rmb 50,000 and not more than Rmb 200,000 shall be imposed on the chief representative and the other representatives who are directly responsible.

　　Article 26　If a Representative Office is found to be in any of the following circumstances, the judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government shall issue a warning, and order the Representative Office to rectify its action within a certain period; where the circumstances are serious, the authority shall impose a suspension of business within a time limit; if those circumstances are not rectified within the period, the judicial administrative department of the State Council shall revoke the Representative Office's practice licence:

　　1. hiring any lawyer admitted to practise law in China, or providing legal services with its support personnel;

　　2. not settling fees for the legal services within China; or

　　3. failing to submit the materials for annual inspection on time or failing to pass the annual inspection.

　　If a Representative Office conducts activities set out in Item (2) above, the judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government shall impose a fine of not less than one time and not more than three times of the amount of fees that should have been settled within China.

　　Article 27　If a Representative Office or its representatives are in any of the following circumstances, the judicial administrative department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government shall issue a warning and confiscate its illegal income; where the circumstances are serious, the department shall impose a suspension of business within a time limit and a fine of not less than Rmb 20,000 and not more than Rmb 100,000:

　　1. a representative holds representation simultaneously in two or more than two Representative Offices;

　　2. a representative or a Representative Office reveals any trade secret of a party involved or any private affair of an individual involved; or

　　3. a representative or a Representative Office takes advantage of provision of any legal service to obtain any property or other benefits from a client.

　　Article 28　Where a Representative Office is cancelled and its property is transferred out of China before all debts are cl

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