Order of the President of the People's Republic of China

No. 93

The Legal Aid Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 30th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on August 20, 2021, is hereby promulgated, and shall come into force as of January 1, 2022.

Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

August 20, 2021

Legal Aid Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the 30th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on August 20, 2021)

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions     

Chapter II Institutions and Workers       

Chapter III Forms and Scope      

Chapter IV Procedures and Implementation      

Chapter V Safeguards and Supervision        

Chapter VI Legal Liability         

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions  

Chapter I

General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted to regulate and promote legal aid work, to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and relevant parties, to guarantee the proper enforcement of the law, and to maintain social fairness and justice.

Article 2 For the purposes of this Law, "legal aid", as an integral part of the public legal service system, refers to the system established by the state to gratuitously provide legal advice, representation, criminal defense, and other legal services for citizens in financial hardship and other parties that meet statutory requirements.

Article 3 Legal aid work falls under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and shall be carried out with the people put front and center, human rights respected and protected, the principles of openness, fairness, and impartiality adhered to, and state support and social participation combined.

Article 4 The people's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate legal aid work into national economic and social development plans and basic public service systems, and coordinate the cause of legal aid with the economic and social progress.

In order to accommodate the needs arising from the provision of legal aid and promote the balanced development of legal aid, the people's governments at or above the county level shall build sound systems to guarantee legal aid work, include funds related to legal aid in government budgets at the corresponding levels, and establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism.

Article 5 The judicial administration department of the State Council shall guide and supervise the legal aid work throughout the country. The judicial administration departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall guide and supervise the legal aid work in their respective administrative areas.

Other relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, in line with their respective functions and duties, provide support and guarantees for legal aid work.

Article 6 People's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall, within their respective functions and duties, ensure that the parties obtain legal aid in accordance with the law, and provide convenience for legal aid workers to carry out their work.

Article 7 Lawyers' associations shall guide and support law firms and lawyers in participating in legal aid.

Article 8 The state encourages and supports people's organizations, public institutions, and social organizations in providing legal aid in accordance with the law under the guidance of judicial administration departments.

Article 9 The state encourages and supports enterprises, public institutions, social organizations, individuals and other forces of society in supporting the cause of legal aid through donation and other means in accordance with the law, and shall give tax incentives to those who meet the requirements.

Article 10 The judicial administration departments shall regularly give publicity to and education about legal aid so as to popularize knowledge of legal aid.

The news media shall actively give public-interest publicity to legal aid and strengthen supervision by public opinion.

Article 11 The state, in accordance with the relevant provisions, commends and rewards organizations and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to legal aid.

Chapter II

Institutions and Workers

Article 12 The judicial administration departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall establish legal aid institutions. A legal aid institution shall be responsible for organizing legal aid, accepting and examining legal aid applications, appointing lawyers, community-level legal service workers, legal aid volunteers, and other legal aid workers to provide legal aid, and paying legal aid allowances.

Article 13 To suit the needs of work, a legal aid institution may appoint its employees with lawyer qualifications or qualifications for the legal profession to provide legal aid, and may establish legal aid service or contact stations to process legal aid applications in proximity.

Article 14 A legal aid institution may assign duty lawyers to people's courts, people's procuratorates, detention centers, and other venues to provide legal aid in accordance with the law for criminal suspects and defendants who have no defense counsel.

Article 15 The judicial administration departments may, through government procurement and other means, select law firms and other legal service institutions on a competitive basis to provide legal aid for recipients.

Article 16 Law firms, community-level legal service offices, lawyers, and community-level legal service workers shall have an obligation to provide legal aid in accordance with the law.

Law firms and community-level legal service offices shall support and guarantee the fulfillment of the legal aid obligation by their lawyers and community-level legal service workers.

Article 17 The state encourages and regulates voluntary legal aid services, and supports eligible individuals in providing legal aid in accordance with the law as legal aid volunteers.

Higher education institutions and scientific research institutes may arrange for personnel engaged in legal education and research as well as law students to act as legal aid volunteers and, under the guidance of judicial administration departments, provide legal aid services, such as offering legal advice and preparing legal documents.

Specific measures for the administration of legal aid volunteers shall be formulated by the relevant departments of the State Council.

Article 18 The state establishes and improves the mechanism for legitimate cross-regional flow of legal service resources, in order to encourage and support law firms, lawyers and legal aid volunteers in providing legal aid for the regions short of legal service resources.

Article 19 Legal aid workers shall perform their duties in accordance with the law, provide legal aid recipients with standards-compliant legal aid services in a timely manner, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the recipients.

Article 20 Legal aid workers shall scrupulously observe the professional ethics and discipline, and shall not accept money or gifts from legal aid recipients.

Article 21 Legal aid institutions and workers shall keep confidential the state secrets, trade secrets and personal privacy which they have learned in the course of providing legal aid.