Wuhan continuously promotes people-centered notarial services

Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei province, has actively promoted people-centered notarial services, an important part of public legal services, providing targeted public legal service products for enterprises and the public and continuously improving the quality and effectiveness of the service.

Since 2023, the city's notary industry has focused on optimizing service procedures and integrating resources. It has been promoting "one-stop" service models, such as "notarization plus authentication" and "notarization plus registration of immovable property". 

For example, enterprises or employees can apply for agent services related to foreign-related authentication and the registration of immovable property after they have handled notarial matters in relevant notary institution, among its efforts to streamline service procedure.

Meanwhile, the city has also issued a negative list of 118 items across 79 categories of enterprise-related notarial certificate documents. It has also implemented a commitment to "at-most-one-time" service for 42 notarial matters, providing convenient, effective and comprehensive "one-stop" services for enterprises and employees in need.

The processing time for general notarial matters related to enterprise-related contracts has been reduced from the statutory 15 working days to three working days. Notarial matters regarding certificates credibility and corporate authorization could be accepted and certified on the same day.

Currently, the city has implemented notarial fee reduction and exemptions for some groups, including low-income groups, persons with disabilities and migrant workers, so as to improve equitable access to notarial services.

Individuals above 75-years old can enjoy free first-time will notarization in the city since 2022, as one of the city's measures to improve the people's livelihoods. In last year, it has handled first will notarizations for 248 people above 75 years old, reducing and exempting notarial fees of over 329 thousand yuan ($45.5 thousand).