Zhengzhou upgrades foreign-related legal services, establishes legal service providers alliance

To align with the province's new opening-up trends, the Justice Bureau of Zhengzhou in Central China's Henan province has been upgrading its foreign-related legal services. The move involves bolstering its institutional frameworks and optimizing working mechanisms.

By positioning itself as a legal services hub for the inland opening-up, Zhengzhou is aiming to foster a sound legal environment that supports its open economy and its goal of becoming a national central city.

The bureau has taken the lead in establishing high-quality legal service institutions within the province, which range from foreign-related legal services, civil and commercial mediation, to compliance services, and foreign law ascertainment.

Significant progress has been made in advancing the building of the Zhengzhou Branch of the National Guidance Center for Handling Overseas Intellectual Property Disputes, achieving important breakthroughs in key areas of industry development.

The city's justice bureau has pioneered the establishment of a coordination mechanism for foreign-related legal services by effectively integrating the city's resources in the field, which has actively supported Zhengzhou's high-level opening-up and the Belt and Road cooperation.

Furthermore, to promote the integrated development of foreign-related legal services, the bureau has collaborated with relevant financial regulators to foster diversified cooperation between foreign-related legal service providers and those of other service sectors such as accounting, finance, insurance and securities, ultimately providing one-stop foreign-related legal services.

The establishment of a foreign-related legal service providers alliance is also a key initiative. The bureau has selected law and accounting firms to provide foreign-related legal services packages and encourages local law firms to set up dedicated departments for foreign-related legal services.

The bureau also encourages law firms to leverage digital technologies — including big data, cloud computing, and the internet of things — to innovate their models of providing foreign-related legal services.

Moreover, notary institutions are guided to tailor services for sectors such as multimodal transport, cross-border e-commerce, and aviation logistics, providing customized and targeted notary services.

Meanwhile, the regular provision of overseas remote video notarizations has also been introduced, expanding service delivery channels.

In terms of talent development, a dedicated plan for cultivating leading foreign-related legal professionals in Zhengzhou has been rolled out. To date, this initiative has trained over 160 professionals in the field.

In addition, by leveraging Zhengzhou's role as a national central city and favorable policies of its Free Trade Zone, the city's justice bureau is accelerating the development of the Longzi Lake Central Legal Service District by attracting institutions specializing in arbitration, mediation, notarization, intellectual property, legal technology and foreign law ascertainment to establish a presence there. The move aims to establish Zhengzhou as a preeminent foreign-related legal services hub in Central China.