中国公证制度介绍

中国公证制度介绍

Public Notary System

from：

Public notaries are persons accredited by the

state to witness civil matters for legal purposes. In the past, public notaries were state offices representing the state in witnessing legal relations

in civil matters. State notary offices, at the request of applicants, notarize legal acts and the

truthfulness and legality of legal documents and facts in order to protect public property and safeguard the lawful rights and interests of citizens. Since October 1, xx, the Ministry of Justice has implemented a plan to reform the notary system. Under the new scheme, public notary offices are no longer administrative bodies; rather, they are non-profit entities with a legal-person status that independently conduct notary business to meet market demand and assume full responsibility for their operations. In the future,

the state will no longer approve the establishment of public notary offices as administrative bodies. Public notaries will be recruited openly through examinations administered by the Ministry of Justice.

Setup of Public Notary Offices

Public notary offices are set up in municipalities directly under the central government, counties （autonomous counties）, and cities. Subject to approval from judicial authorities of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, districts of cities may also set up public notary offices. All the offices are independent of each other.

Each office should have a director and a deputy director who should be notaries themselves.

Scope of Business

· Notarize civil legal acts such as contracts, trusts, wills, gifts, division of property, and adoption of children;

· Notarize facts that amount to civil legal acts such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, kinship, identity, degree, and experience;

· Notarize documents that amount to civil legal acts such as authenticity of signatures and seals on certificates, consistency of copies of certificates, excerpts, translations and photocopies with the originals;

· Notarize the enforceability of creditor documents such as repayment agreements and contracts on recovery of debts;

· Auxiliary business, such as preservation of evidence, maintenance of wills or other documents, drafting notary documents on behalf of clients, notarizing the opening of lottery draws, etc.

Validity of Contracts

Notarized documents are good for the following

four purposes:

· Evidence. Article 67 of the Civil Procedure Law states, "Legal acts, legal facts and documents that have been notarized through legal procedures should be regarded as a basis for establishing facts, except where opposing evidence is sufficient to overrule the notarized documents."