Shanghai’s online notary services save clients from appearing in offices

The clients can handle up to 15 types of notary services at the local notary public offices' online platforms since Shanghai launched its pilot program of providing notary services online one and a half months ago.

All a client needs to do is submit the relevant digital materials and make the payment through the official Wechat account of one of the aforementioned notary public offices. There is no need to show up in the office in person.

The Shanghai Bureau of Justice kicked off the program on May 28, 2019, aiming to speed up the development of online notary services and accelerate the adoption of information technology.

According to Zhang Lei, head of Shanghai Zhangjiang Notary Public Office, one of the program participants, information technology is the key to online notary services.

"By applying such information technologies as facial recognition, digital material submission and e-wallet to our own online application, we are able to greatly improve the user experience," said Zhang.

Apart from pioneering the online notary services, Shanghai Zhangjiang Notary Public Office was also one of the first cooperative notary public offices in Shanghai, which have been in operation since 2008.

Unlike traditional ones, cooperative notary public offices are completely self-reliant, meaning they have to expand the market and find revenue sources on their own.

According to Yang Changlin, head of Shanghai’s notary association, the founding of this new type of notary public office is of significance to both the reform of Shanghai’s notary system and its market-oriented development.