Eligible lawyers from the Hong Kong and Macao administrative regions will be able to practice in the nine Chinese mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area from Tuesday after the country’s top legislature revised the relevant law.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed amendments on Friday to the Lawyers Law of the People’s Republic of China, with effect from Sept 1.
The HKSAR’s Department of Justice welcomed the move, saying it has made a clear provision for the 11-city-cluster Greater Bay Area’s lawyers’ program by providing the legal basis to conduct relevant work in respect of the regularization of the practice regime.
Article 62 of the amended law states that Hong and Macao SAR legal practitioners who’ve passed the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination administered by the State Council’s judicial administration department and who’ve obtained a mainland practice qualification, can practice in stipulated areas of law in the Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing municipalities of Guangdong province.
The State Council’s judicial administration department also laid out enrolment requirements for the examination, application procedures for lawyers to practice, and the scope of practice allowed.
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