How to Verify a Company in China? An Ultimate Guide

China’s business landscape surpasses that of developing nations and aligns with the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). While problems like geopolitics and human rights persist, trade and government agreements that push for accelerated reforms in China benefit foreign investors, exporters, and consumers. China has accumulated numerous benefits backing up its favorable global market position. Having a great potential for business growth, its unparalleled infrastructure and strong position within the global market are the foundation of the ultimate trust of foreign investors. Despite all the benefits, some challenges regarding business verification persist. To verify a company in China is one of the significant challenges. Company verification is a legal requirement that businesses do before collaborating with another company. In this read, let’s learn how you can verify the legal status of a business and conduct business screenings before making new partners.

How To Verify If a Company is Registered in China?

If you are looking to verify a company in China,  you have to screen it against the government registry. In China, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (NECIPS) can be used for commercial verifications. The official portal is maintained by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in China. SAMR is responsible for business registration, market oversight, and regulatory enforcement, ensuring corporate transparency and conformity with Chinese regulations. Here, you can check the registration status and credit information of businesses in China. This portal is responsible for keeping the records of businesses in China.

Also Read: How to Verify a Company in Italy? An Ultimate Guide

Step-by-Step Guide to Verify a Company in China

The NECIPS portal is available in both Chinese and English versions. On this website, you can follow the following steps to verify a company in China:

• Company Name: To verify a company in China, you can start the search by entering the official name of the company. You can get the business information in both English and Chinese.
• Unified Social Credit: In China, there is a unique 18-digit numerical code that is given to every legal entity. By entering the USC number, you can obtain the necessary information and confirm the company’s registration status.
• Registration Number: For a successful company search and verification, enter the complete registration number. 

Provided Results: After entering the relevant input parameters, you will get the full company name and business license information, including residence, business scope, legal representative, and legal scope.

Challenges to Verify a Company in China

During business screening, you may encounter several difficulties that can impede the verification process in China. Read below to learn some of them:

• Log In Required

To access the business information, you are required to log in with your real name. Accessing a company’s legal documents can be a significant hurdle if you are not registered on the portal.

• Captcha Problem

One of the continuous challenges to verifying a company in China is a captcha error. For non-native users or businesses, it can be difficult to fetch the desired data for company verifications. This is because when you press enter, a captcha loads, asking you to click the letters in semantic order. Unfortunately, this captcha always appears in Chinese, so it is difficult to understand the portal requirements.

• Navigation Issues

The official portal to verify a company in China is not user-friendly. Although there is ample data available, you may face various challenges due to the website’s layout and intricate structure. Moreover, the website goes blank when you click on a different query. It is quite a hassle to navigate through the portal as you have to refresh the page repeatedly.

• Error 403

On the Chinese business portal, you are not allowed to access the public directory. The server, despite being operational, limits your access, refusing to allow you to retrieve it due to permission-related issues.

• Language Barrier

Although a user can access the basic company information in English, the challenge of the language barrier still persists when it comes to the official documentation. To get direct access to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System Portal, you have to sign up for an account. Besides business documentation, the official China company registry also appears in Chinese, which adds more challenges to conducting business verification in China.

How to Verify Ultimate Beneficial Owners in China

In China, the Ultimate Beneficial Owner is the actual person possessing or controlling at least 25% of the operations of the organization, either directly or indirectly. The UBO has voting rights as a legal entity in the business association. Understanding the ownership structures of a business requires accessing UBO data. On the verifications portal, the UBO information is not available, making the verification procedure difficult.

Implementing AML Checks on Businesses in China

The Chinese government is vigilant about anti-money laundering (AML), on which the Know Your Business (KYB) laws are based. To verify a company in China, there are two main types of checks: one includes checking on the business and the other on the beneficial owners. In AML screening, various checks such as sanction screening, adverse media screening, and PEP screening are conducted on businesses and business persons (beneficiaries, shareholders, and directors).

Licenses and Certifications

• State Administration for Industry and Commerce

The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, or NECIPS, manages the company registry database for verified businesses in China. It is also involved in the licensure and registration of new companies in China and combating any threats the economic framework may face from illicit money.

• Ministry of Commerce

This ministry determines the policies related to trade and manages China’s import-export activities to develop foreign trade. Apart from this, this ministry manages foreign investment in a way that ensures all trade routes are running legally and as per the regulatory laws.

• State Administration of Market Regulation

State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) is responsible for lawful trade practices inside China, which ensures that the marketplace is transparent. It also assures that the operating business is up to scale from all legal and regulatory aspects, making the Chinese market an easy one to invest in.

• China Securities Regulatory Commission

This regulatory body protects the interest of the investors in China and hence ensures transparency and fairness in the Chinese capital market. Providing the above-stated objective, it aims to promote ethical business practices in Chinese financial services.

• National Press and Publication Administration

In China, all businesses dealing in gaming are required to be verified by the National Press and Publication Administration. This regulatory body is responsible for issuing licenses to gaming businesses and data protection and content restrictions. Breaches against the laws can lead to fines and penalties.

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How Can The KYB Help You Verify a Company in China?

If you need to verify a company in China, you will encounter the hassle of various navigation and technical issues on the government portal. The challenges elevate when you have to visit various regulatory authorities’ portals to confirm the company’s legal and financial standing. To mitigate such challenges, rely on fast and secure service providers like Know Your Business to verify a company in China. It is a one-stop solution that pools data from 25+ official data sources in its quest to validate information about a company in China. Our real-time data integration, a number of integration methods, including a lightning-fast API, and record-keeping for ensuring the legal and financial status of a company can be verified. We authenticate the legitimacy of businesses operating in different industries with an extensive database of 300M+ companies encompassing 250+ countries.

Get in touch with the KYB to verify a company in China. We will help you grow your business by making sure you comply with standard regulations.