Time To Honour China's WTO Commitments: MOJ Issues Implementing Rules Regarding Foreign Law Firms

October 02, 2002 | BY

clpstaff &clp articles

The scope of work for foreign law firms in China is a hot topic and work in China's legal market constitutes one of the key services included in the country's WTO membership agreements. What can we make of new implementing regulations that govern foreign law firms' China activity?

By Richard Guo, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, New York

The PRC Ministry of Justice on July 4 2002 issued the Implementing the «Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Law Firms in China Regulations» (hereinafter the Regulations) Provisions (hereinafter the Provisions), effective as of September 1 2002. These Provisions wrap up the domestic documentation of China's commitments in trade in legal services when it became a World Trade Organization member on December 11 2001.1

In its WTO Schedule of Specific Commitments (hereinafter the Schedule),2 China committed to open its legal market for foreign competition, subject only to certain specified limitations on market access and national treatment.

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