The General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ("CPCCC") and the General Office of the State Council have recently issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Building of a Public Legal Service System (the "Opinions").
The Opinions anticipate that a modern public legal service system which is convenient, efficient, equal and inclusive and covers both urban and rural areas will take shape by 2022, and a public legal service system that matches the goal of building a rule-of-law country, government and society will be set up by 2035. To this end, the Opinions map out tasks in three aspects which are "pushing for a balanced development of basic public legal services", "fostering the diversification and specialization of public legal services" and "innovating the administrative systems and working mechanisms for public legal services". Among others, the Opinions highlight the need to actively deliver legal services for boosting the high-quality economic growth. As regards the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, lawyers and notaries are encouraged to offer superior legal services for such intellectual property as trademarks, patents and copyright. With respect to pollution prevention and control, lawyers are encouraged to get engaged in environment-related public interest litigation, and judicial expertise in respect of environmental damage will be further regulated.