The Public Legal Services Administration of the Ministry of Justice ("MOJ") and the China Notary Association ("CNA") have recently distributed the Circular on Tightening Punishments in the Notary Industry and Improving the Mechanism for Connecting Administrative Penalties with Industry Punishments (the "Circular").
The Circular lays down requirements in six aspects, including fulfilling the notary association's responsibilities for disciplining notary offices and notaries and refining the mechanism for connecting punishments imposed by judicial administrative organs with that by the notary association. Among others, the Circular reads that the notary association shall report to the judicial administrative organ the industry punishment it inflicts on a notary, within five working days following the date when the industry punishment comes into effect, and that the judicial administrative organ shall notify the notary association of the administrative penalty it imposes on a notary, within five working days from the date when the administrative penalty comes into effect. In addition, the Circular clarifies that the notary association shall advise in writing the judicial administrative organ to give a notary an administrative penalty if it reckons that the notary's misconduct triggers an administrative penalty according to law, and refer the relevant evidence to the judicial administrative organ. Upon the receipt of the advice from the notary association, the judicial administrative organ shall timely put the case on record and conduct investigations, and shall mete out an administrative penalty within a certain period of time which is 60 days in general and cannot exceed three months.