Justice bureau improves voluntary services

New fields such as traffic, weather, and water-related affairs were brought into the list of impunity rules for minor offenders in this year, according to the Shanghai Justice Bureau at a press conference on Thursday.

Shanghai has launched five lists of impunity rules with 84 points for legal business covering fields such as market supervision, fire and rescue, cultural market and environment since March, 2019.

A civil defense list and an urban management list were launched in August in last year.

The improvement of the list is one of the 18 voluntary services provided by the city's justice bureau this year.

The services mainly focused on three aspects including increasing service convenience of residents, using rule of law to benefit residents, and simplifying the service procedures, according to the justice authorities.

The justice authorities sharply simplified the service steps. The total number of notarization affairs which only need to attend once at most in the city increased from 103 to 200, and the number of notarization affairs which doesn't require for attendance increased from 91 to 120. Residents can also ask for legal aid online by using their mobile phone.

Special legal services were provided to elderly people, disabled people, family members of prisoners and people recovered from drug addiction, according to the justice bureau.

Since the launch of the projects, the justice authorities in the city have organized more than 5,800 legal public activities, and provided free legal advice to more than 230,000 people and over 4,500 companies.

There are more than 2,200 lawyers, 240 notaries, 3,200 legal aid workers, 4,800 leaders in the justice system and 12,300 people who know the law participated in public legal services.