The General Office of the Ministry of Justice ("MOJ") has recently issued the Circular on Clarifying the Business Scope of the China Legal Service (Macao) Company (the "Circular").
The Circular states that the business scope covers three parts of business which are "legal consulting services relating to the mainland", "notarization business" and "lawyers' business relating to the mainland". Among them, the notarization business is further divided into five types, including "directly issuing notarial certificates that will be used in the mainland, for matters stated in Article 11 and Article 12 of the Notarization Law, as applied for by the parties concerned". The lawyer's business shall be performed by the China-Macao Law Office (a law office subordinate to the China Legal Service (Macao) Company), and mainly include: 1. acting as the agent in Macao-related cases that are tried by courts of the mainland or submitted to arbitration to arbitration institutions of the mainland; 2. assisting the parties concerned from the mainland in handling commercial legal affairs, such as business registration and trademark registration, in Macao; 3. offering non-litigation services, such as legal consultation and training, to relevant entities of the mainland, particularly those Chinese-invested companies in Macao, and acting as their legal advisors; and 4. doing other business that is permitted under Macao laws.