Chapter V Legal Liability
Article 24Any representative office or representative who endangers China's State security, public security or administration of public order, shall be investigated for criminal liability according to the provisions of the Criminal Law on crimes of endangering State security, crimes of endangering public security or crimes of obstructing the administration of public order, and the license to practice of the representative office or the certificate to practice of the representative shall be revoked by the judicial administration department of the State Council. If the case is not serious enough for criminal punishment, administrative penalties for public security shall be imposed according to law, and the license to practice of the representative office or the certificate to practice of the representative shall be revoked by the judicial administration department of the State Council.
Article 25Any representative office or representative who, in violation of Article 15 of these Regulations, illegally conducts legal service activities or other for-profit activities shall be ordered to suspend its/his business within a specified time limit by the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government. If the circumstances are serious, the judicial administration department of the State Council shall revoke the license to practice of the representative office or the certificate to practice of the representative.
The judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government shall confiscate the illegal income of the representative office or the representative who commits the acts set forth in the preceding paragraph, and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan respectively on the chief representative and other representatives directly responsible.
Article 26Where a representative office falls under one of the following circumstances, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and the municipality directly under the Central Government shall give it a warning and order it to make corrections within a specified time limit; if the circumstances are serious, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and the municipality directly under the Central Government shall order a suspension of its business within a specified time limit; if the representative office fails to make corrections within the specified time limit, the judicial administration department of the State Council shall revoke its license to practice:
(1) employing Chinese practitioner lawyers, or its employed support staff conducts legal services activities;
(2) failing to settle the fees that it collects for legal services within the territory of China;
(3) failing to submit relevant materials for annual examination on time, or failing to pass the annual examination.
If the representative office commits the acts set forth in item(2) of the preceding paragraph, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and the municipality directly under the Central Government shall impose on it a fine of not less than one time but not more than three times the money that should have been settled in the territory of China.
Article 27Where a representative office or a representative falls under one of the following circumstances, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and the municipality directly under the Central Government give it/him a warning, confiscate its/his illegal income, and concurrently impose a fine of not less than20,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan:
(1) concurrently serving as a full-time or part-time representative in two or more representative offices;
(2) divulging commercial secrets or private matters of parties;
(3) accepting money or other things of value from parties by using the advantage of providing legal services.
Article 28Where a representative office whose registration is cancelled transfers its property out of the territory of China before repaying its liabilities, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government shall order a retransfer of the property transferred out of the territory of China for the repayment of liabilities. If such transfer seriously infringes upon other persons' interests, the chief representative of the representative office and other persons directly responsible for such transfer shall be investigated for criminal liability for the crime of concealing property according to the provisions of the Criminal Law. If the case is not serious enough for criminal punishment, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government shall impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 300,000 yuan on the representative office, and a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan respectively on the chief representative and other persons directly responsible for such transfer.
Article 29Where a representative of a representative office provides false evidence, conceals facts or intimidates or induces another with promise of gain to provide false evidence or conceal facts, he shall be investigated for criminal liability for the crime of obstructing testimony in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law, and his certificate to practice shall be revoked by the judicial administration department of the State Council.
Article 30Where a foreign law firm, a foreign lawyer or any other foreign organization or individual conducts legal service activities within the territory of China without permission, or where a representative office or a representative whose permission to practice has been revoked continues to conduct legal service activities within the territory of China, the judicial administration department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government shall ban such activities, confiscate the illegal income, and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 300,000 yuan concurrently.
Article 31Where the license to practice of a representative office is revoked according to law, the foreign law firm that the said office is affiliated to will not be permitted to apply to establish its representative office in China for five years; where the certificate to practice of a representative of a representative office is revoked according to law, he will not be permitted to serve as a representative of any representative office in China for five years.
Where a representative of a representative office is imposed a criminal punishment for endangering the State security, public security or administration of public order in China, the foreign law firm that his representative office affiliates to will not be permitted to apply to establish its representative office again and the said representative will not be permitted to serve as a representative of any representative office in China for life.
Article 32Where a judicial administration department staff member commits one of the following acts, an administrative sanction of demerit recording, grave demerit recording or demotion shall be imposed on the person in charge and other persons directly responsible according to law:
(1) failing to examine or reexamine the certifying documents on proposed representative offices and their representatives in accordance with the requirements provided for in these Regulations;
(2) failing to conduct registration or annual examination for representative offices in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations;
(3) failing to collect fees in accordance with the fee items and fee standards set forth by the State.
Article 33If a judicial administration department staff member commits one of the following acts, an administrative sanction of demotion, dismissal from the post or discharge from public employment shall be imposed on the person in charge and other persons directly responsible:
(1) issuing license to practice or certificate to practice to proposed representative offices or its representatives which do not meet the requirements provided for in these Regulations;
(2) using advantage of the office to accept money or property, or to seek personal gain;
(3) in violation of the provisions of these Regulations, failing to revoke the permission to practice granted to representative offices or representatives, withdraw their license to practice or certificate to practice, or cancel their registration where such revocation or cancellation shall be done;
(4) failing to issue a receipt for the lawfully collected fines or failing to truthfully fill in the amount of the fines;
(5) violating the system for separation of the fine decision respecting and collection of fines or failing to turn over to the State Treasury the fees and fines collected and the illegal income confiscated as provided for;
(6) failing to promptly investigate and deal with the violations of these Regulations by representative offices or their representatives;
(7) other acts of not strictly enforcing laws or abusing powers which cause serious consequences.
Those who commit one of the acts set forth in the preceding paragraph which cause a heavy loss to public property or the interests of the State and people shall be investigated for criminal liability for the crime of abuse of power, negligence of duty or acceptance of bribes in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law.
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Article 34Measures for administration of the representative offices established in Chinese mainland by law firms in the separate customs territories shall be separately formulated by the judicial administration department of the State Council in accordance with the principles of these Regulations.
Article 35These Regulations shall be effective as of January 1, 2002. Representative offices of foreign law firms and their representatives which have been approved to operate and practice on a trial basis by the judicial administration department of the State Council shall, within 90 days from effective date of these Regulations, apply anew to handle examination and approval formalities.
(State Council)
