The Notary Law was promulgated in 2005 and amended in 2015 and 2017 respectively. The latest revision entered into force on January 1, 2018.

There are 47 articles in total.

The key points are as follows:

1.Notarization is the certification of the veracity and legitimacy of civil legal acts and facts and documents with legal significance by a notarial office in accordance with statutory procedures and pursuant to an application by a natural person, legal person or any other organization.

2.A notarial office is a lawfully established non-profit-making certification institution that independently exercises the notarial functions and bear corresponding civil liabilities.

3.A notary shall meet the following conditions:

(1) having the nationality of the People’s Republic of China;

(2) being 25- 65 years old;

(3) being impartial and upright, observing the law and disciplines, being of good moral character;

(4) he or she has passed the national uniform legal profession qualification examination and obtained the legal profession qualification; and

(5) having acted as an intern in a notarial office for 2 or more years, or having 3 or more years of experience of another legal profession and having acted as an intern in a notarial office for 1 year or more, and having passed the evaluation.

4.Where anyone needs to use a notarial certificate outside China, if the country where the notarial certificate is to utilized requires certification in advance, it shall be subject to the certification of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China or its authorized institution and the China-based embassy (consular office) of the relevant country.

5.The notarized civil legal act, fact and document of legal significance shall be considered as the basis for determining a fact except that there is contrary evidence which is enough to reverse the notarization.