China Business License: How to Verify a Chinese Company

How to Verify a China Business License in 5 Steps

1. Get the full business license and Chinese legal company name.
2. Copy the 18-character Unified Social Credit Code exactly.
3. Search it in 国家企业信用信息公示系统.
4. Compare the current registration record with the license.
5. Compare the same legal entity with the invoice and bank beneficiary before payment.

The Unified Social Credit Code is designed as a unique and stable identifier for an organization. Changes to the legal representative, address, or business scope do not normally change the code.

Do not rely only on an English company name. It may be a translation, brand, or trading name rather than the registered legal name.

How to Read a Chinese Business License

Use the fields below to identify what should be checked against the government record.

Figure: Key fields on a Chinese business license.

The legal representative is not automatically the company owner, and the registered address is not automatically the factory address.

Search the Official China Company Registry

Use the government-operated:

国家企业信用信息公示系统
National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System

Open the official China company registry

The current public search accepts:

• Company name
• Unified Social Credit Code
• Registration number

The system also has separate searches for 经营异常名录 and 严重违法失信名单.

For the fastest check:

1. Search the Unified Social Credit Code.
2. Open the matching company.
3. Confirm the Chinese legal name.
4. Check registration status.
5. Compare the main fields with the license.

If the Company Does Not Appear

First check:

• All 18 characters of the code
• 0 versus O
• 1 versus I
• Exact Chinese company name
• Whether the supplier provided a branch or subsidiary
• Whether the company has changed its legal name

One failed search is not enough to conclude that the license is false.

What Should Match?

A mismatch does not automatically mean fraud.

Chinese Company Law requires changes to registered company information to be registered, and when information printed on the license changes, a replacement license is issued. If the government record is newer than the supplier’s copy, ask for the latest business license.

Use the QR / 企业码 When Available

China is expanding the use of 企业码, a unified enterprise QR code linked to the electronic business-license system.

SAMR reported in July 2026 that newer paper and electronic licenses are being loaded with 企业码. Scanning it can provide access to linked license, registration, disclosure, and regulatory information.

Use it as a shortcut, not as the only check:

Scan code → identify company → confirm current registry record.

Check the Annual Report Too

Do not stop at the basic registration page.

Chinese companies generally submit an annual report between January 1 and June 30 for the previous year. Public annual-report information can contain useful cross-checks such as:

• Contact address
• Company operating status
• Investments
• Shareholder subscribed and paid-in contributions
• Contribution dates and methods
• Share transfers
• Company website and online-store URLs

Some financial information may be withheld from public display at the company’s choice.

This gives you practical checks that are not visible on the license.

For example, if the supplier claims a particular website is its official corporate website, compare that claim with available annual-report data.

Registered Capital: Check More Than the Number

Do not judge a supplier simply because the license says RMB 500,000 or RMB 50 million.

For limited liability companies, registered capital represents shareholders’ subscribed contributions. Under the current Company Law, newly established limited liability companies generally require subscribed capital to be paid within five years, subject to specific exceptions and transitional rules for older companies.

A better check is:

Registered Capital → Subscribed Contribution → Paid-in Contribution → Contribution Date

SAMR rules require relevant subscribed and paid-in contribution information to be publicly disclosed through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

Registered capital does not independently prove cash balance, revenue, employee count, or production capacity.

Check 经营异常 and Serious Violations

经营异常名录

A company may enter the List of Enterprises with Abnormal Operations (经营异常名录) for reasons including failure to file required annual reports, failure to disclose required information, certain company-name issues, or inability of authorities to contact the company through its registered address or business location.

Do not look only at whether an entry exists.

Check:

• Reason
• Entry date
• Whether the company was later removed
• Whether the underlying issue affects your transaction

A company can be removed after correcting qualifying problems.

严重违法失信名单

The Serious Illegal and Dishonest List (严重违法失信名单) is a different and more serious category.

The rules effective July 15, 2026 cover serious violations involving severe circumstances and significant social harm, including certain serious product-quality, licensing, registration, competition, and disclosure violations.

For a substantial order, inspect the actual case behind any current listing before proceeding.

Cross-Check the Company Before Payment

How to Interpret Business Scope and Company Age

经营范围 — Business Scope: Check whether the registered activities reasonably relate to what the supplier claims to do.

If a company claims to manufacture industrial valves but its registered activities appear unrelated to industrial products or manufacturing, investigate the company’s actual role.

Business scope does not prove factory ownership.

成立日期 — Establishment Date: Use company age as context. A recently established company simply has less operating history available for examination; it is not automatically unreliable.

Electronic Business Licenses Are Valid

Do not reject a supplier simply because it provides an official electronic business license instead of a paper copy.

Chinese Company Law and SAMR rules state that an electronic business license has the same legal effect as the paper license.

The relevant question is whether the license data matches the current official company record.

Use AiQicha as a Secondary Search Tool

爱企查 (AiQicha) is a commercial Chinese company-information platform, not the official China company registry.

Open AiQicha

It can be useful for locating company information quickly or exploring additional records.

企查查 (QCC) and 天眼查 (Tianyancha) provide similar commercial company-search services.

Use these for research convenience. Use official Chinese records for important registration confirmation.

What a Chinese Business License Cannot Prove

A business license does not independently prove:

• Factory ownership or production capacity
• Product quality or certification authenticity
• Financial strength
• Supplier reliability or delivery performance

If the supplier claims to own a factory, separately verify whether the supplier actually operates the claimed factory.

China Business License Verification Checklist

Before paying a Chinese company, confirm:

• Business license received
• Chinese legal name recorded
• Unified Social Credit Code recorded
• Company found in the official registry
• Legal name and code match
• Registration status checked
• Latest registered information compared
• Annual report reviewed where useful
• Registered capital and contribution information understood
• Business scope checked
• 经营异常 record checked
• 严重违法失信 record checked
• Invoice entity compared
• Bank beneficiary compared
• Any different payment entity explained
• Important inconsistencies resolved