A missed annual report puts a Mainland company on a public list within ten working days.
Market regulators keep two public lists with different grounds and consequences. An abnormal-operations entry can carry restrictions; a serious-illegality entry follows heavier penalties.
By Matthew Lee
30 June is the last day for a Mainland company's annual report. Within ten working days of the period closing, the regulator lists the companies that missed it.
Market regulators keep both lists and publish them on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn). They look alike to a first-time reader. Their grounds and their weight differ.
Two lists, two purposes
The abnormal operations list (经营异常名录) records failures to meet specified registration or publicity duties and can carry restrictions. The seriously illegal and dishonest entities list (市场监督管理严重违法失信名单) follows serious violations attracting heavier administrative penalties.
Grounds for the abnormal operations list
The Measures for the Administration of the List of Enterprises with Abnormal Operations were issued in 2014 and amended by SAMR on 18 March 2025 and 21 November 2025. Article 4 sets four grounds:
- Missed annual report: the report for the previous year was not filed and published between 1 January and 30 June.
- Failure to publicise: the company did not publish required information within 10 days of a written order from the regulator.
- Name not changed: a court or the registration authority ruled the name must stop being used, and the company did not register a new one within 30 days.
- Unreachable at the registered address: two registered letters to the registered address or business premises, sent 15 to 30 days apart, went unsigned.
Each listing is published with its date and reason. Our article on GSXT annual reports covers the report itself.
False information is handled separately. Since 1 May 2024, when State Council Order No. 777 amended the Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Publicity, a company whose published information conceals the truth or is false is ordered to correct it and fined RMB 10,000 to 50,000. In serious cases the fine is RMB 50,000 to 200,000, the company goes on the serious illegality list, and its licence may be revoked.
Leaving the abnormal operations list
Under Article 11 a company applies to its registration authority once it has cured the ground: filed the missing reports, published the information, registered the new name, or registered a new address or shown it can be reached at the old one. The procedure follows SAMR's credit repair measures.
A company that disputes a listing may object in writing within 30 days of publication.
The list can also escalate. Under the amended Interim Regulations, a company listed for missing its annual report two years running that has not corrected it and cannot be reached at its registered address or premises has its business licence revoked.
When a company reaches the serious illegality list
The 2014 text of the Interim Regulations moved a company to the serious list after three years on the abnormal list. Order No. 777 rewrote that article and the three-year rule is gone.
The current rules are the Measures for the Administration of the Market Regulation List of Seriously Illegal and Dishonest Entities, SAMR Order No. 128 of 25 May 2026, in force from 15 July 2026. They replace Order No. 44 of 2021. Article 3 lists a party whose violation is of a bad nature, serious and socially harmful, and who received a heavier penalty: a fine at the aggravated level, a downgrade or revocation of a licence or business licence, or an order restricting, suspending or closing the business.
The measures name the fields: food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics; product quality and safety, including false inspection results; consumer rights and fair competition, including commercial bribery and pyramid selling; and false materials to obtain a licence or registration, or obstructing an inspection.
Article 10 adds two more: seriously false published information, and refusing to carry out an administrative decision without showing an inability to pay. The party is told with the penalty notice and has five working days to object.
The measures that follow
| List | What follows | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Abnormal operations | Restriction or exclusion in government procurement, tenders, state land grants and honours | Interim Regulations, Article 19 |
| Serious illegality | The same, plus: a key factor in licences, qualifications and procurement; key supervision with more inspections; no notification-and-commitment approvals; no honours; shared for joint discipline across departments | Interim Regulations, Article 19; SAMR Order No. 128, Articles 18 and 19 |
| Serious illegality, for the people | The legal representative or person in charge may not hold that role in another enterprise for three years | Interim Regulations, Article 18 |
Removal from the serious list follows the credit repair measures.
Reading the record
- A missed-report listing: common, and usually cured. Check whether it was removed and when.
- Unreachable at the address: more telling for a supplier you plan to pay. Ask where the company actually operates.
- A serious listing: a regulator imposed a heavy penalty. Read the penalty decision before going further.
How Fill Easy fits in
We source the Mainland China company search from the State Administration for Market Regulation, the authority that keeps both lists, and return it in English with a summary through China Cross-Border Data. Adverse records and regulatory blacklists are part of the same Mainland catalogue. Order by email to agent@fill-easy.com or through the API; the China company verification guide sets out the rest of the file.
How many of your Mainland suppliers would your team find on the abnormal operations list today?