LAWYERS from Hong Kong and Macao who have passed the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) legal exam and obtained mainland qualifications will be allowed to practice in Shenzhen and eight other cities in Guangdong Province, under the amended lawyers law, which will take effect Sept. 1.

The other cities are Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.

The move formalizes an earlier pilot program by incorporating it into national legislation.

First authorized by the National People’s Congress (NPC) — China’s top legislature — in 2020, the pilot program allowed qualified legal practitioners from Hong Kong and Macao to practice in the nine mainland cities of the GBA.

More than 600 Hong Kong and Macao legal practitioners have since practiced in the nine cities, playing an important role in handling foreign-related disputes, according to a statement issued Friday by the NPC.

The national lawmaking body said incorporating the pilot program’s achievements into the law would encourage more Hong Kong and Macao lawyers to participate in the development of China’s rule of law and provide firm support for the “one country, two systems” principle.

The amended law, adopted Friday by the NPC, encourages lawyers to expand international exchanges and support the development of foreign-related legal services.

It also calls for greater efforts to train foreign-related legal professionals and strengthen law firms’ capacity to provide cross-border legal services. By establishing a stronger institutional framework, the law aims to improve the quality and efficiency of China’s foreign-related legal services and support the country’s high-quality development and high-standard opening-up.

The current lawyers law, first adopted in 1996, had been amended four times before the latest revision.

(SD News)