The Unified Social Credit Code is an 18-character identifier assigned to every registered organization in mainland China and printed on its business licence. It combines registration authority, organization type, administrative region and the entity's own number into one code that serves as its tax number, registration number and legal identity. For a foreign buyer it is the unambiguous key for looking a company up in the official registry and in commercial databases.
Why This Matters
Chinese companies usually present an English trading name to foreign customers, and that name has no legal standing. Two unrelated companies can use similar English names; one company can use several. The Chinese registered name and the credit code are what contracts, invoices, bank accounts and certificates attach to. A verification that starts from the English name can land on the wrong company; one that starts from the code cannot.
The code also links records across systems. The company's entry on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, its certificates in the CNCA database, its customs registration and its tax invoices all carry the same 18 characters, so a mismatch between any two of them is easy to spot.
How It Works
The code was introduced in 2015 to replace separate registration, organization and tax numbers. It appears on the business licence in the top section, next to the company's Chinese name. Its structure is fixed: one character for the registration authority, one for the organization type, six for the administrative division, nine for the organization's own number, and one check character.
To use it, ask the supplier for a scan of the business licence and read the code from it, then search gsxt.gov.cn or an aggregator such as Tianyancha by the code rather than by name. The registry returns the legal representative, registered capital, business scope, registration date, status and change history for that exact entity. The full verification route is in verifying a Chinese supplier in 2026, and the general method for any jurisdiction in how to verify a supplier online.
Check that the code on the licence matches the code on the proforma invoice and on any certificate the supplier sends. A certificate carrying a different code, or a Hong Kong payee with no code at all, belongs to a different legal person.
FAQ
Is the Unified Social Credit Code the same as a tax number?
Yes. Since 2015 the code serves as the company's tax identification number as well as its registration number, replacing the separate numbers that existed before. Chinese VAT invoices show the same 18 characters.
Do Hong Kong companies have a Unified Social Credit Code?
No. Hong Kong companies are registered with the Hong Kong Companies Registry and have a different company number. A mainland factory that asks you to pay a Hong Kong entity is asking you to pay a separate legal person, whose registration should be checked separately.
Can a company have more than one code?
No. Each legal entity has one code. A supplier presenting two codes is presenting two companies, which is common in groups with a manufacturing entity and a trading entity, and you should know which one you are contracting with and which one you are paying.
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