Full Text of the Supreme People's Procuratorate's Provisions on Safeguarding Lawyers' Practice Rights According to Law
Article 1: To effectively safeguard lawyers' lawful exercise of practice rights, strictly hold procuratorial personnel accountable for illegal exercise of authority, promote standardized judicial practices in people's courts, and uphold judicial fairness, these regulations are formulated in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Civil Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, the Lawyers Law of the People's Republic of China, and other relevant legal provisions, based on practical work.
Article 2: People's courts at all levels and all procuratorial personnel shall fully recognize the important role of lawyers in the construction of the rule of law, earnestly implement various legal provisions, respect and support lawyers in lawfully performing their duties, provide relevant assistance and convenience for parties to retain lawyers and for lawyers to carry out their duties in accordance with the law, effectively safeguard lawyers' lawful exercise of practice rights, and jointly maintain the unified and correct implementation of national laws and social fairness and justice.
Article 3: People's courts shall, in accordance with the law, protect the exercise of the parties' right to entrust representation. When handling cases, people's courts shall, in accordance with the law, inform the parties of their right to entrust a defender or litigation representative. If a criminal suspect under detention or residential surveillance at a designated location requests to entrust a defender, the people's court shall promptly convey the request. If the guardian or close relative of the criminal suspect entrusts a defense lawyer on their behalf, the criminal suspect shall confirm the entrustment relationship.
People's courts shall promptly verify whether the entrusted lawyer is qualified to serve as a defender. If it is found that the lawyer falls under circumstances where they are not permitted to act as a defender, the people's court shall promptly inform the party, lawyer, or law firm to terminate the entrustment relationship.
Article 4: People's courts shall, in accordance with the law, protect the parties' right to obtain legal aid. If a party meets the conditions for legal aid but has not entrusted a defender or litigation representative, the people's court shall promptly inform the party of their right to apply for legal aid and, in accordance with relevant regulations, transfer the application materials to the legal aid agency. If the people's court finds that the criminal suspect falls under circumstances where legal notification for defense is required, it shall promptly notify the legal aid agency to assign a lawyer to provide defense. If the criminal suspect refuses legal aid, the court shall investigate the reasons and handle the matter in accordance with relevant regulations.
Article 5: People's courts shall, in accordance with the law, protect lawyers' right to meet with clients in criminal proceedings. When handling cases directly accepted for filing and investigation, except for cases involving particularly serious bribery crimes, lawyers are not required to obtain permission for meetings in other cases. If a lawyer requests to meet with a criminal suspect in a particularly serious bribery case during the investigation stage, the people's court shall strictly review and decide whether to grant permission in accordance with the law and relevant regulations, and respond within three days. Once circumstances hindering the investigation have disappeared, the court shall notify the lawyer that they may meet with the criminal suspect without permission. Before the conclusion of the investigation, the court shall permit the lawyer to meet with the criminal suspect. People's courts shall not send personnel to be present during meetings, nor shall they monitor the content of lawyer-client conversations through any means.
Article 6: People's courts shall, in accordance with the law, protect lawyers' right to review case files. From the date the case is transferred for review and prosecution, the people's court shall allow defense lawyers to review, excerpt, and copy the case file materials. With the permission of the people's court, litigation representatives may also review, excerpt, and copy the case file materials. The people's court shall promptly accept and arrange for lawyers to review case files. If it cannot arrange this promptly, it shall explain to the lawyer and arrange for the review within three working days. The people's court shall, in accordance with relevant regulations on prosecutorial transparency, improve lawyer service platforms such as the internet and equip necessary facilities like quick-photography, copying, and recording devices to provide maximum convenience for lawyers reviewing case files. Lawyers shall review, excerpt, and copy case file materials in a designated area within the people's court. When necessary, the people's court may send personnel to assist on-site.
Article 7: People's courts shall, in accordance with the law, protect lawyers' right to apply for the collection and retrieval of evidence in criminal proceedings. If a lawyer collects evidence indicating that the criminal suspect was not at the crime scene, had not reached the age of criminal responsibility, or is a mental patient not criminally responsible under the law, and informs the people's court, the relevant case-handling department of the people's court shall promptly review it.
After a case is transferred for review of arrest or prosecution, if a lawyer applies to the People's Court under Article 39 of the Criminal Procedure Law to obtain evidence materials collected by the investigative authorities but not submitted that prove the criminal suspect is innocent or guilty of a lesser crime, the People's Court shall promptly review the application and decide whether to obtain the evidence. If, upon review, it is determined that the evidence requested by the lawyer has not been collected or is unrelated to the facts of the case and the decision is not to obtain it, the People's Court shall explain the reasons to the lawyer. If the People's Court decides to obtain the evidence and the investigative authorities submit the relevant evidence materials, the People's Court shall inform the lawyer within three days.
After a case is transferred for review and prosecution, if a lawyer applies to the People's Court under Article 41, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Law to collect or obtain evidence, and the People's Court deems it necessary to collect or obtain the evidence, it shall decide to do so and create a record to be attached to the case file; if it decides not to collect or obtain the evidence, it shall provide a written explanation of the reasons. When the People's Court collects or obtains evidence based on the lawyer's application, the lawyer may be present.
If a lawyer applies to the People's Court to collect materials related to the case from the victim or the victim's close relatives or witnesses provided by the victim, the People's Court shall decide whether to permit it within seven days. If the People's Court does not permit it, it shall provide a written explanation of the reasons.
Article 8: The People's Court shall ensure the lawyer's right to present opinions in litigation according to law. The People's Court shall actively listen to and attach great importance to the lawyer's opinions. Even if not stipulated by law, if a lawyer requests to be heard, the court shall promptly arrange for it. A record shall be made when listening to the lawyer's opinions, and any written opinions submitted by the lawyer shall be attached to the case file. For written opinions submitted by the lawyer, such as those arguing that the act does not constitute a crime, constitutes a lesser crime, or warrants a mitigated or exempted criminal liability, or that there is no social danger, detention is inappropriate, or investigative activities are illegal, the case-handling personnel must review them and, in relevant work documents, state the lawyer's opinions and explain whether they are adopted and the reasons.
Article 9: The People's Court shall ensure the lawyer's right to know in criminal proceedings according to law. If, during the investigation period, a lawyer inquires with the People's Court about the crime suspected by the criminal suspect, the main facts of the suspected crime that have been ascertained at that time, or the status of compulsory measures taken, changed, or lifted against the criminal suspect, the People's Court shall promptly inform them according to law. When handling cases directly accepted for filing and investigation and reporting to the higher-level People's Court for review of arrest, the People's Court shall inform the lawyer of the reporting situation. When a case is concluded in investigation and transferred for review and prosecution, the People's Court shall inform the lawyer of the case transfer.
Article 10: The People's Court shall ensure the lawyer's right of representation in civil and administrative proceedings according to law. In civil and administrative procuratorial work, if a party entrusts a lawyer for representation, the People's Court shall respect the lawyer's rights, listen to the lawyer's opinions according to law, and carefully review the evidence materials submitted by the lawyer. If a lawyer requests to participate in a hearing of a People's Court case based on the party's entrustment, the People's Court shall permit it.
Article 11: People's courts shall earnestly fulfill their legal supervision duties regarding obstruction of lawyers' lawful practice. If a lawyer, in accordance with Article 47 of the Criminal Procedure Law, believes that a public security organ, people's court, or their staff has hindered their lawful exercise of litigation rights, and files a complaint or appeal with the people's court at the same or higher level, the complaint and inspection department of the accepting people's court shall conduct a review within ten days of acceptance. If the situation is verified, it shall notify the relevant organ, department of the court, or lower-level people's court to make corrections, and provide a written response to the lawyer regarding the handling outcome; if the situation is not verified, it shall provide a written response to the lawyer explaining the handling and offer clarifications. If a people's court discovers any conduct obstructing a lawyer's lawful exercise of litigation rights during case handling, it shall propose corrective opinions in accordance with the law.
Article 12: Establish and improve systems for recording, reporting, and holding accountable the unlawful exercise of powers by procuratorial organs' case-handling departments and procuratorial personnel. For complaints or appeals regarding obstruction of a lawyer's lawful exercise of litigation rights, such as the right to meet or inspect case files, by a procuratorial organ's case-handling department or personnel during litigation activities, the complaint and inspection department of the accepting people's court shall immediately investigate and verify. If the circumstances are minor, it shall propose corrective opinions; if serious circumstances exist, such as unlawfully expanding the scope of cases requiring permission for meetings or failing to respond within the prescribed time on whether to permit meetings, it shall issue a corrective notice. If corrections are not made after notification or violations recur repeatedly, it shall report to the disciplinary inspection department and inform the chief procurator, who shall handle the matter according to relevant regulations. If the responsible person commits disciplinary violations, disciplinary sanctions shall be imposed, recorded in the enforcement file, and publicly reported.
Article 13: People's courts shall proactively strengthen work connections with judicial administrative organs, bar associations, and lawyers. Through business discussions, information sharing, exchanges and consultations, and regular opinion collection, they shall analyze issues in lawyers' lawful exercise of practice rights, jointly study solutions, and collectively improve professional competence.
Article 14: These provisions shall take effect from the date of issuance. The "Provisions on Ensuring Lawyers' Lawful Practice in Criminal Proceedings" issued by the Supreme People's Court on February 10, 2004, and the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Protection of Lawyers' Practice Rights" issued on February 23, 2006, shall be simultaneously abolished. If any previous provisions issued by the Supreme People's Court are inconsistent with these provisions, these provisions shall prevail.
