That's according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice yesterday in Beijing.

The change will mean notaries - people authorized to perform certain legal formalities for the State - will no longer work as public servants in an administrative system run by the government.

Instead, they will become employees of independent companies, a so-called institutional system.

Notary offices will cease to be governmental departments.

They will become real constitutional legal bodies, which can independently conduct their business, bear liability, and carry out the role of notarization of the State following the rules of the market. Some economically developed coastal areas and provincial capital cities will have to set up the new system of notary bodies as soon as possible.

Remote and underdeveloped economic regions can carry out the reform over a longer period, said Duan Zhengkun, vice-minister of justice.

He said that from this year, new notary offices in the current system will not be allowed to be set up.

About 80 per cent of notary offices in China now work within the current administrative system.

The ministry will strengthen on-the-job training by giving 40 hours of professional training to each employee each year. It will also open up the national public notary examinations to everyone to seek employees of a higher quality.

For the exams taking place this month, 10,000 out of more than 13,000 applicants are from far more varied walks of life than previously.

In cities, only those with a bachelor degree will be able to apply for a notary position.

Notary agencies will all be able to exercise their power equally, with no office being above another.

Duan said the new system may ease the State's financial and personal management burden, and increase the tax revenue for the state.

He did not give any details of how this would all work, but said the government has carried out trials in major cities and found the results were encouraging.

(China Daily)