Article 1: These measures are formulated on the basis of the Legal Aid Law of the PRC, The PRC Criminal Procedure Law, The PRC Civil Procedure Law, the Administrative Litigation Law of the PRC, and other relevant laws and regulations so as to regulate and promote legal aid efforts and to ensure the correct implementation of law.
Article 2: Legal aid work is to uphold the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, persist in being people-centered, respect and protect human rights, comply with the principles of openness, fairness, and equity; and combine state safeguards with public participation.
Article 3: The State Council judicial administrative department is to guide and oversee the nation's legal aid efforts. The judicial administrative departments of local people's Governments at the county level or above are to guide and oversee legal aid efforts in the corresponding administrative region.
Article 4: Within the scope of their respective duties, the people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall ensure that parties receive legal aid in accordance with law and facilitate the work carried out by legal aid personnel.
The people's courts, people’s procuratorates, public security organs, and departments of justice administration shall establish and complete mechanisms for communication and coordination, and do a good job of work on links in giving notice of rights, applications for transfers, and case handling, to ensure the normal implementation of legal aid work.
Article 5: Judicial administration departments are to perform the following duties in accordance with law:
(1) Submit opinions on the establishment or revocation of legal aid institutions in the corresponding administrative region;
(2) Formulate legal aid work and development plans and management systems for the corresponding administrative region;
(3) Coordinate and advance the construction of high-quality legal aid teams, plan and allocate legal aid resources within the corresponding administrative region, and support and regulate social forces’ participation in legal aid work;
(4) strengthen oversight of legal aid services, draft quality standards for legal aid services, and periodically evaluate quality through means such as third-party assessments;
(5) Carry out routine publicity and education on legal aid, spreading knowledge about legal aid;
(6) Give commendations and awareds to organizations and individuals making outstanding contributions in legal aid work in accordance with relevant regulations;
(7) Accept and investigate objections, complaints, and reports regarding legal aid that are in their jurisdiction, and give punishments or sanctions to legal aid institutions and personnel that violate laws and regulations;
(8) Establish a system for disclosures of legal aid information, publicly announcing information related to legal aid, such as laws and regulations, policy announcement, case quality oversight management situations in accordance with law, and accepting societal oversight;
(9) Other duties that shall be performed in accordance with law.
Article 6: The people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs are to perform the following duties in accordance with law when handling cases or related matters:
(1) Notify parties with financial hardship or other conditions making them eligible for legal aid that they have the right to apply for legal aid, and transferring the legal aid applications of detained criminal suspects or defendants;
(2) Notifying criminal suspects or defendants who have not retained a defender and for whom legal aid institutions have not appointed a lawyer to provide a defense that they have the right to meet with duty lawyers, ensuring that duty lawyers provide legal assistance in accordance with law;
(3) Where the criminal suspects or defendants in a criminal case are those whom the Legal Aid Law of the PRC provides a lawyer shall be notified to give a defense, notify the legal aid institution to appoint an eligible lawyer to serve as the defender;
(4) Facilitate legal aid personnel in earning about the case situation, reading the case file, and having meetings in accordance with law;
(5) Other duties that shall be performed in accordance with law.
Article 7: Detention centers, prisons, compulsory drug treatment facilities, and other custodial facilities are to perform the following duties in accordance with law:
(1) Transfer applications for legal aid submitted by detained criminal suspects or defendants, persons serving a sentence, and persons in compulsory drug treatment;
(2) Facilitate legal aid personnel in earning about the case situation and having meetings in accordance with law;
(3) Other duties that shall be performed in accordance with law.
Article 8: Legal aid institutions are to perform the following duties in accordance with law:
(1) provide legal consultation services through diverse methods such as service kiosks, phone, and internet; and alert parties that they enjoy the right to apply for legal aid in accordance with law, and notifying them of the requirements and procedures for applications.
(2) Accept and review applications for legal aid and make decisions on whether or not to provide legal aid;
(3) Appoint or arrange for legal aid personnel to provide legal aid services that meet standards;
(4) Pay legal aid subsidies;
(5) Establish legal aid work stations or contact points as needed for work;
(6) Periodically publish information to the public such as on the use of legal aid funds, case handling, and quality evaluation efforts, and accept societal oversight.
(7) Other duties that shall be performed in accordance with law.
Article 9: People's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs are to perform the following obligations to give notice in accordance with law:
(1) When public security organs and people's procuratorates interrogate criminal suspects for the first time or employ compulsory measures they shall notify the parties of their right to apply for legal aid in accordance with law:
(2) Within three days of receiving case materials transferred for review for prosecution, the people's procuratorates shall notify the case parties and their legal representatives or close relatives that they have the right to apply for legal aid in accordance with law;
(3) Within three days of receiving cases, the people's procuratorates shall notify the case parties and their legal representatives or close relatives that they have the right to apply for legal aid in accordance with law;
(4) Where parties are not satisfied with the effective rulings or decisions of judicial organs and submit a collateral appeal or application for retrial, and the people's courts make a decision or ruling for a retrial, or where the people's procuratorates submit a procuratorial counter-appeal, the duty to give notice shall be performed within three days of the decision or ruling for retiral or the submission of the procuratorial counter-appeal;
(5) Where criminal suspects or defendants have the circumstances provided for in article 25 of the Legal Aid Law of the PRC, the people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall notify them that if they do not retain a defender, a legal aid institution will be notified to appoint a defender for them in accordance with law;
Article 10: Notice may be given in oral or written form, and its content shall be easy for defendants to understand. Where oral notice is given in person a written record shall be made and the defendant shall sign it; where it is by phone, this shall be recorded in the case file; and where notice is written, the delivery receipts shall be included in the case file. Where defendants express their desire to apply for legal aid in person, this shall be recorded in the case file.
Article 11: Where detained criminal suspects or defendants, persons serving sentences, and persons in compulsory drug treatment submit applications for legal aid, the people's courts, people's procuratorates, public security organs, and custodial facilities shall transfer the application to the legal aid institution within 24 hours of receiving it, and, within 3 days, notify the applicants’ legal representatives and close family, or the other persons they have entrusted, to assist in providing the legal aid institution with relevant proofs and supporting materials. Where, because of the applicant, it is not possible to notify the legal representatives, close family, or other entrusted persons, the legal aid institution shall be notified at the same when the application is transferred.
In cases where criminal suspects or defendants apply for legal aid, legal aid institutions may learn from the people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs about any circumstances they have learned of during the case handling process showing whether the suspect or defendant has any legally-prescribed circumstances for legal aid applications, such as financial hardship.
Article 12: Where the people’s courts, people's procuratorates, or public security organs discover that criminal suspects or defendants are within circumstances for which the Legal Aid Law provides that notice shall be given for a defense, they shall notify the legal aid institution under the judicial administrative department at that level to appoint a lawyer to provide them with a defense.
People's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs making notifications for defense shall send a copy or photocopy of the notification for defense letter, the written decision to adopt compulsory measures, or materials such as the opinion requesting indictment, the indictment and the judgment to the legal aid institution.
The official defense notification letter shall clearly bear the criminal suspect or defendant's full name, the name of the charged crime, the name of the detention center or residence, the reason and basis for the defense notification, the full name of the contact person at the agency handling the case and their contact information.
Article 13: Within three days of a people's court accepting an application for compulsory medical treatment or discovering that a defendant meets the requirements for compulsory medical treatment, where the subject of the application or defendant has not retained an agent ad litem, courts shall send a legal aid notification letter to the legal aid organization, notifying it to appoint a lawyer to serve as the subject of the application’s or defendant's agent ad litem and provide them with legal aid.
Where a people's procuratorate applies for compulsory medical treatment, the people's court shall send a copy of the application for compulsory treatment to the legal aid organization.
The legal aid notification shall clearly bear the full name of the subject of the application or defendant, their legally-designated representative's full name and contact information, and the full name and contact information of the contact person at the agency handling the case.
Article 14: Duty lawyers are to provide criminal suspects or defendants who do not have a defender with legal assistance such as legal consultation, suggestions on procedural selection, applications for modification of compulsory measures, and submitting opinions on the case handling in accordance with law.
People's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall send written notice to legal aid institutions three working days before the date set for legal assistance or directly give it to the duty lawyers on site. Within two working days of receiving the written notification for legal assistance, the legal aid institutions shall designate a duty lawyer and notify the case handling organ of the duty lawyer's name, unit, and contact information.
Article 15: Where parties apply to legal aid institutions for legal aid based on the case handling organs’ or people's court’s decision to grant state judicial aid, the legal aid institutions need not review financial hardship status.
Article 16: Legal aid institutions shall conduct a review and make a decision on whether to give legal aid within 7 days of receiving an application for legal aid. Where a decision is made to give legal aid, legal aid personnel shall be appointed with three days of the decision to provide legal aid to the recipient; and where their decision is to not give legal aid, the applicant shall be notified in writing and the applicant and the reasons are to be explained.
The legal aid institutions shall appoint a lawyer within three days of receiving a legal aid notification sent by the people's courts, people's procuratorates, or public security organs, and formally notify the people's court, people's procuratorate, or public security organ.
Article 17: legal aid personnel shall obey the relevant laws, regulations, rules, and provisions to complete efforts such as meetings, reading the case file, investigating the situation, collecting evidence, participating in trial, submitting written defense opinions or representation, providing legal aid services that meet standards to the person receiving aid in accordance with law.
Article 18: Where people's courts change the time for holding court proceedings, they shall notify the legal aid personnel three days in advance. Where legal aid personnel have legitimate grounds to not appear in court on time, they may apply for an extension to the people's court. Where the people’s court agrees to the extension, it shall promptly notify the legal aid personnel.
Article 19: Where people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs change the compulsory measures taken against criminal suspects or defendants, or change the detention facilities, they shall promptly notify the lawyers taking on the legal aid case.
Article 20: After people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs complete the handling of a case or transfer it to other organs for handling, they shall send copies of the related legal documents to the lawyers handling the legal aid case within five days. The legal documents shall indicate the name of the legal aid institution that made the appointment, the full name of the personnel handling the case and the unit to which they belong, and other such circumstances.
Article 21: Where there are any of the situations provided for in article 48 of the Legal Aid Law of the PRC, the legal aid institution shall make a decision to end legal aid, draft a written conclusion of legal aid decision and send it to the aid recipient, and formally notify the people's court, people's procuratorate, and public security organ within three days of making the decision.
Where people's courts, people's procuratorates, or public security organs discover that there are conditions provided for in the preceding paragraph during the course of handling the case, they shall promptly inform the legal aid institution.
Article 22: Where criminal suspects or defendants refuse the lawyer appointed by the legal aid organization to provide them a defense, and insist on exercising their defense rights themselves, the legal aid institution shall approve it and issue a termination of legal aid decision; where there is a legitimate reason for requesting a change of lawyer, the legal aid institution shall appoint another lawyer to provide a defense.
In cases where notice shall be given for a defense, where the criminal suspects or defendants refuse the lawyer appointed for their defense, the people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall investigate the reasons. Where the reasons are legitimate, it shall be allowed, but the criminal suspects or defendants shall retain another defender within 5 days; where the criminal suspects or defendants do not retain another defender, the people's court, people’s procuratorate, or public security organ shall, within 3 days, notify the legal aid institution to appoint another lawyer to provide them with a defense.
Article 23: The physical safety and professional dignity of legal aid personnel are to be protected by law.
Legal aid personnel have the right to reject any conduct that interferes with their practice, and are to truthfully record and report it as provided. Legal aid personnel have the right to make accusations regarding conduct infringing on their rights.
Where legal aid personnel are falsely reported, maliciously accused, or demeaned and defamed, causing harm to their reputation due to the lawful performance of their duties, the relevant departments and individuals shall promptly clarify the facts, dispel negative impacts and pursue the responsibility of relevant departments and individuals.
Article 24: People's courts, people's procuratorates, public security organs, and judicial administration departments shall strengthen the use of information technology, establish and improve platforms for exchanging legal aid information, making it so that operations are coordinated and information is interconnected, using modern information technology to promptly and accurately transmit and exchange relevant legal documents, increasing the level of informatization in legal aid, and promoting the effective development of legal aid work.
Article 25: Legal aid institutions shall comprehensively use measures such as observing trials, checking case files, consulting judicial organs' opinions, and meeting with recipients, to urge legal aid personnel to increase the quality of services.
People's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs shall cooperate with judicial administration departments and legal aid institutions to complete efforts to oversee the quality of legal aid services, respond to requests for opinions, and assist in the judicial administrative departments’ and legal aid institutions’ investigation of complaints and reports.
Article 26: Where, during the handling of a case, people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs discover that legal aid personnel have conduct that is illegal or that violates professional ethics and practice rules, they shall promptly report the relevant situation to the judicial administration department and legal aid institution, and the judicial administration department and legal aid institution shall send the results of the investigation and handling to the unit.
Article 27: The provisions in these measures related to public security organs apply to state security organs, military security departments, coast guard bureaus, and prisons handling criminal cases, except where there are special provisions of law.
Article 28: “Legal aid personnel” as used in these Measures refers to lawyers, basic-level legal service workers, legal aid volunteers, and other staff of legal aid institutions who possess lawyers credentials or legal professionals credentials, who have been appointed or arranged by legal aid institutions to provide legal aid services to citizens who have financial hardship or other parties that meet legally-prescribed conditions in accordance with law.
Article 29: These measures take effect beginning on the date of their promulgation.
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