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IV. Demand for Legal Services in the GBA

For arbitration, according to the feedback from the relevant departments, there are already some GBA

lawyers handling cases at the SCIA, with a higher percentage of foreign-related cases among all cases in which
GBA lawyers are involved. However, in other arbitration courts, there are fewer cases in which GBA lawyers act

as lawyers or arbitrators, and the type of cases mainly involve the adjudication of foreign-related matters. For
some arbitration courts, due to the relatively small number of foreign-related cases, the proportion of foreign-

related cases in their total caseload is relatively low, and therefore there is no practical demand for involvement
of GBA lawyers for the time being.

For notarization, the main business is the China Attestation services. However, since the qualification of
China-Appointed Attesting Officers requires training, assessment and appointment by the Ministry of Justice,

not all GBA lawyers are qualified to handle such services. According to the feedback of the Guangzhou Notary
Public Office, GBA lawyers mainly participate in notary affairs in the issuance of transfer documents involving

Hong Kong citizens, especially for the notarization certificates relating to succession rights of Hong Kong
citizens, which requires GBA lawyers to issue transfer documents in almost all cases. Such cases are estimated

to account for about 20% of the notarization cases involving GBA lawyers. However, as these services still
require the parties and China-Appointed Attesting Officers to return to Hong Kong for handling, relevant parties

expressed their wish for GBA lawyers to directly handle the attesting services for GBA residents in the GBA area
in future, in order to improve efficiency and reduce the burden.

On November 7, 2023, the “Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public
Documents” (“Convention”) came into force in the Mainland. Since then, the cross-border circulation of public

documents between the Mainland and contracting countries no longer requires the traditional “dual certification”
process of “certification by the foreign affairs offices + certification by consulates”. Instead, a new one-step

certification model based on an Apostille Certificate is adopted under the framework of the Convention. At
present, Guangdong Province, as a provincial-level foreign affairs office, and Shenzhen , as a municipal-level

foreign affairs office, are among the local foreign affairs offices that can issue Apostille Certificates. Before the
Convention came into force, Mainland residents who need to obtain an Apostille can do so through Notaries

Public from Hong Kong and Macao. For the time being, in terms of the GBA’s “notarization + Apostille
Certification” business, there are currently no opportunities or requirements for GBA lawyers to assist. Some

individuals suggest that for documents involving Hong Kong and overseas which cannot be notarised by the
Mainland notary offices, these should be opened up for handling by GBA lawyers who hold qualifications

as Notaries Public and China-Appointed Attesting Officers. These GBA lawyers who hold three types of
qualifications are already China-Appointed Attesting Officers with experience in handling notarial services and

can assist residents in GBA to apply for the Apostille.

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