Instructing a Chinese Lawyer From Abroad: Powers of Attorney, Apostilles and Signing by Video

Before a foreign company can sue a Chinese supplier, it has to get its paperwork into a form a Chinese court will accept. The court will not take your lawyer's authority, or your company's existence, on the strength of a scanned signature. The rules for each document are strict.

There is also more flexibility than the default route suggests. Since November 2023 an apostille replaces embassy legalisation for many countries, and you can often avoid foreign formalities for the power of attorney altogether by signing before a Chinese judge, in person or by video. This guide covers court proceedings in mainland China. Arbitration institutions set their own requirements.

Who can act for you

If a foreign company or individual wants a lawyer to act in a Chinese court, it must be a PRC lawyer (Civil Procedure Law Article 274). Your lawyer at home can advise you, and may act as your agent in a non-lawyer capacity, but cannot appear as a lawyer (Interpretation Article 526).

You engage the law firm, not the individual lawyer. Under the Lawyers Law, a lawyer takes on work through the firm, which signs a written engagement contract with the client and collects the fees (Lawyers Law, as amended in 2026, Article 28). The engagement contract and the power of attorney for the court are separate documents. The first sets out the scope and fees between you and the firm; the second tells the court who may act for you and on what matters.

What the court needs from a foreign company

A foreign company that sues in a Chinese court has to prove three things, and each proof needs formalities of its own (Supreme People's Court Interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law, Article 521):

• That the company exists. An identity document for the company, in practice a certificate of incorporation or an extract from the companies register, notarised in the country where it is registered and then apostilled or legalised.
• That the person signing can represent it. A document showing that person's authority, such as a certificate of incumbency or a board resolution, with the same notarisation and apostille or legalisation.
• That the lawyer is authorised. The power of attorney, signed by that representative. This is the document you can handle in more than one way; see the next section.

A foreign individual proves identity with a passport. "Country" here means the country where the company is registered, or a third country where it has completed business registration.

These documents are needed whichever way you sign the power of attorney. Online filing does not change that: a cross-border party filing online must still upload identity documents with the required notarisation and apostille or legalisation (Supreme People's Court Provisions on Online Case Filing for Cross-Border Litigants, Article 5).

Three ways to sign the power of attorney

1. Sign outside China. The power of attorney is notarised where it is signed and then apostilled or legalised by the Chinese embassy or consulate (Civil Procedure Law Article 275). This is the default, and it is the slowest route because every step happens in your country and the originals then travel to China.

2. Sign in China. If your representative is in China, they can sign before a judge of the court hearing the case, and the court must accept it (Interpretation Article 523). A power of attorney signed in China and notarised by a Chinese notary also needs no foreign formalities. This suits a buyer whose director visits factories in China anyway.

3. Sign before a judge by video. For a first-instance civil or commercial claim, a foreign party whose identity has been verified can ask the court to witness the signing online, through the court's China Mobile Micro Court platform. The judge, you and your Chinese lawyer are on the same video call. You must speak Chinese or bring an interpreter, and the judge confirms that the appointment is genuinely yours. Documents signed this way need no notarisation, apostille or legalisation (Provisions on Online Case Filing, Articles 2, 3 and 6).

Route 3 removes the foreign formalities for the power of attorney only. The company documents in the previous section still need them.

Apostille or legalisation?

China joined the Apostille Convention, formally the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, on 8 March 2023. It took effect for China on 7 November 2023. For documents from another state party, a single apostille issued in that country replaces legalisation by the Chinese embassy.

The courts have applied it. In a case the Supreme People's Court later published as a typical case, the Chengdu Intermediate Court accepted a Californian judgment with an apostille and waived legalisation ((2023)川01协外认15号). In 2024 the Kunming Intermediate Court held that, for documents from a state party that has not objected to China's accession, courts should no longer ask for legalisation after 7 November 2023, and upheld a power of attorney from the United States that carried only an apostille ((2024)云01民终10913号).

Two checks before you rely on it. Is your country a party to the Convention? And has it objected to China's accession? If either answer rules it out, the documents still need legalisation by the Chinese embassy or consulate. Where your country has no diplomatic relations with China, there is a longer chain through a third country's embassy (Interpretation Article 522).

Hong Kong companies

Many buyers and many Chinese suppliers trade through Hong Kong companies, and Hong Kong follows a different route. Documents are notarised by a notary recognised by the mainland and then stamped and transmitted by China Legal Services (Hong Kong) Limited. The same applies to Macao through China Legal Services (Macao) (Provisions on Online Case Filing, Articles 5 and 8). An apostille alone is not the route for a Hong Kong document used in a mainland court.

What to put in the power of attorney

The power of attorney must state the matters and the scope of the authority. Some steps need "special authorisation", spelled out expressly: admitting, waiving or changing claims, settling, filing a counterclaim and appealing (Civil Procedure Law Article 62).

If your power of attorney gives only general authority, your lawyer cannot accept a settlement offered at the hearing or file your appeal without a new document, and a new document from abroad means another round of notarisation and apostille. Decide at the start what your lawyer may do without asking you, and write that into the power of attorney. You can still require your lawyer to take your instructions before using any of those powers; that belongs in the engagement contract.

Translation matters too. Materials filed online must be in Chinese or translated by a qualified translation company (Provisions on Online Case Filing, Article 7), and foreign-language evidence will need a Chinese translation in any case.

A checklist

"Certified with the documents above" and the examples of authority documents are practical suggestions, not statutory requirements. Your notary and the court handling the case may ask for something different; confirm before you sign.

Start on these documents as soon as you decide a claim is likely. They are usually the longest wait on your side, and nothing can be filed until they arrive. See what else happens once you sue a Chinese supplier.

If you're preparing to sue or respond to a claim in China, send me your company's country of registration and who will sign. I'll tell you which route fits, what each document needs and what can be done by video. Court and arbitration against a Chinese supplier →