The Judges Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 2019) (the "Judges Law") and the Procurators Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 2019) have recently been adopted at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress ("NPC") and both will take effect from October 1 this year.
Revisions introduced by the latest Judges Law, which is comprised of 69 articles in eight chapters, touch upon the personnel qualified to be judges, further details on the judges' responsibilities, supervision of their duty performance, qualifications for judges, qualifications for taking up such posts as the court president, selection of judges, the newly added provisions for the appointment and dismissal of judges, the requirement that judges are banned from holding any concurrent posts in for-profit organizations, the withdrawal of judges from the duty performance, the quota-based management of judges, the rule that judges are allowed to carry out teaching and research activities in institutions of higher learning, and an improvement to vocational safeguards for judges, etc. Among others, the Judges Law stipulates that an individual that intends to act as a judge must satisfy seven requirements, including "having engaged in legal work for five years", adding that this five-year yardstick may be relaxed to four-year experience in legal work if he or she has received a degree as the Juris Master or the Master of Law, or to three-year experience if he or she has received a degree as the Doctor of Judicial Science. In addition, the Judges Law expressly states that a judge may assist in carrying out practical teaching and research activities in an institution of higher learning or in a scientific research institute, as selected and appointed by or approved by the unit where he or she works, if it is necessary for work, and abide by relevant provisions of the country.