BEIJING - Procuratorial personnel are forbidden from using their power to seek personal profit, including accepting cash gifts and reimbursements for individual expenses, according to a disciplinary code issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

The code, based on the amended Civil Procedure Law that went into effect from January 1, is designed to regularize law enforcement behavior and enhance the effectiveness of civil supervision by procuratorates across China.

The new code states that procuratorial staff are not allowed to exceed the three-month time limit on handling cases in which litigants protest the court judgement.

Procuratorial personnel are forbidden from meeting with litigants or their agents without the presence of a third person, and the meeting place should be confined to procuratorial offices, it said.