China has issued a document stressing protection for lawyers’ rights to practice and improved regulations on practice.

“Lawyers are an important force in implementing the rule of law in China,” said a guideline released on June 13 by the general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, China’s cabinet.

Mechanisms that ensure defense opinions of lawyers are taken seriously in investigation, prosecution and trials as well as guaranteed judicial remedies for infringements upon lawyers’ rights should be improved, the document said.

According to the guideline, lawyers should be engaged as legal advisers in government, Party and public organizations through government purchases of services.

Regulations on lawyers’ and law firms’ practice and industry-wide standards should be improved, and punishments for violators should be clarified, said the document, adding that a record-keeping system for wrongdoing should be established.

Lawyers should uphold the leadership of the CPC and socialist rule of law, the guideline said.

China encourages lawyers to actively take part in legal drafting and pro bono legal services and to hold posts in international legal organizations, it said.