BEIJING -?Since being recovered in 1979, China's public notary system has played a unique role in preventing disputes and reducing litigation, according to the Ministry of Justice.

China now has a total of 3,011 public notary offices nationwide with 12,000-plus certified notaries, according to the latest figures provided by the ministry.

Notary offices across the country handled an average of more than 10 million cases annually from 2006 to 2010.

As China increasingly opens up to the outside world, China has also seen rising numbers of foreign-related public notary cases over the years, up from 140,000 in 1980 to over 3 million this year.

Huang Yi, a notary affairs official with the Ministry of Justice, said that, as an integral part of the Chinese judicial system, the notary system has a special legal and social role in resolving conflicts and reducing disputes by certifying documents in accordance with the law.

Describing the fight on crimes of cheating notary offices with fake documents as a major challenge, Huang said China's notary offices should be legally authorized to conduct investigations over the authenticity of documents that are submitted to their tables for certification.