CHONGQING - Local courts in China are issuing ethic codes to prevent judges from being swayed by lobbyists.

The Higher People's Court of Chongqing Municipality announced a new regulation Monday, forbidding judges' family members and retired judges from taking money from lawyers and lobbying for their clients.

"Some judges' former colleagues and relatives would even ask for bribes and manipulate court verdicts, and such activities, which are often difficult to uncover, are a great challenge to justice in China," said Qiao Ya, who heads the court's discipline inspection.

According to the regulation, when lawyers are found to be employing lobbyists, they will have to cease their work on the case, and verdicts that are deemed to have been influenced by lobbying will be subject to further review by the court's judicial committee, while those involved will be punished in line with the law.

The court had previously demanded relatives of judges or court officials to stop working as lawyers in Chongqing, prompting some 11 lawyers to quit their jobs or leave Chongqing to work elsewhere.

Last Friday, the Higher People's Court of Fujian Province released a similar regulation, forbidding judges to meet parties of a case or their representatives in private.

People can report breaches of the regulation at the court's website or through a 24-hour hotline, said Yao Weiguo, who heads the Fujian court's discipline inspection.

Early this year, the Supreme People's Court of China urged local courts to ban family members of court officials and judges from being lawyers under the courts' jurisdictions. It also demanded local courts to prevent their employees from meddling with cases.