Taiwan residents will be allowed to enter the legal profession on the mainland, with more than 30 having passed the annual judicial exam, a mainland official said on Wednesday in Beijing.

Fan Liqing, spokeswoman of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said relevant departments were discussing necessary regulations, which would be "released at an appropriate time."

For years, law professionals from Taiwan have urged the mainland to open its judicial exams to Taiwan residents out of the need for closer cross-Straits economic and social exchanges.

The Ministry of Justice announced in April that Taiwan residents could sit the exam starting this year. A total of 658 Taiwan residents took the September exam, along with about

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2008)