A Mainland company's credit code never changes and is never given to anyone else.
The 18-character Unified Social Credit Code replaced three separate numbers between 2015 and 2017. Read position by position, it tells you who registered the entity, what kind it is and where, and it is the only search key that cannot drift.
By Matthew Lee
18 characters. 31 possible symbols. One code per entity, kept even after it is deregistered.
The Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码) comes from the State Council's plan for the code system, issued on 11 June 2015 as 国发〔2015〕33号, and the national standard GB 32100-2015. It is printed on every Mainland business licence.
Position by position
| Positions | What they encode | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Registration department: 9 for market regulation, 1 for the establishment commission, 5 for civil affairs | A trading company starts with 9 |
| 2 | Category within that department: for market regulation, 1 enterprise, 2 individual business (个体工商户), 3 farmers' cooperative | A company presenting itself as one should show 91 |
| 3 to 8 | Administrative division of the registration authority | Where it first registered; a later move leaves these digits unchanged |
| 9 to 17 | Entity identifier: the nine-character organisation code | Matches an older organisation code certificate |
| 18 | Check character | Catches a mistyped code |
The plan's own example gave industry and commerce the digit 3. Codes in use carry 9, which the Beijing Administration for Market Regulation lists as the market regulation code.
The code uses Arabic digits and capital letters, but never I, O, Z, S or V, according to the Beijing Administration for Market Regulation. That leaves 31 symbols. The check character is calculated from the other 17, and its job, in the plan's words, is to prevent errors.
A code containing an excluded letter or failing the check is invalid. It may be mistyped or falsified. Passing the check does not prove registration; confirm the code against the register.
The three numbers it replaced
Before 2015, a Mainland company held three identifiers from three authorities:
- Business registration number (工商注册号): 15 digits from the industry and commerce bureau, made of a six-digit authority code, an eight-digit sequence and a check digit.
- Organisation code (组织机构代码): nine characters from the quality supervision authority, eight plus a check character.
- Taxpayer identification number (纳税人识别号): 15 characters from the tax bureau, a six-digit division code followed by the organisation code.
The State Council General Office's opinion on the three-in-one registration reform (国办发〔2015〕50号, 23 June 2015) replaced the three certificates with a single business licence carrying the new code. Organisation code and tax registration certificates stopped being issued.
The plan had industry and commerce bureaus start issuing codes on 1 October 2015. Existing entities were to be converted by the end of 2017, with a few difficult areas allowed until the end of 2020. Old certificates stayed valid during the transition and lost their validity once it ended.
Why it is the only safe search key
- It does not move: the plan says the code stays the same for the life of the entity, through a change of address, legal representative or business scope.
- It is unique: one code for one entity and one entity for one code, across the country.
- It outlives the company: after deregistration the code is retained, a rule repeated in Article 25 of SAMR's Company Registration Implementing Measures of 2025. A search by code finds a dead company instead of a live namesake.
Names do none of this. A company can change its name, and English renderings of the same name vary from one document to the next. Search by name and you get candidates. Search by code and you get the entity.
One exception matters. When an entity converts into a different kind, for example a public institution turned enterprise, the plan treats the result as a new entity with a new code.
A document with a 15-digit number
A business licence or contract showing a 15-digit registration number instead of an 18-character code was issued before the company converted: before October 2015, or later by a company that had not yet replaced its licence. Under the three-in-one opinion, an old licence lost its validity when the transition ended, at the end of 2017 in most areas.
The company has not disappeared. The plan required registration authorities to map each old number to the new code. Ask for the current licence, then search the code. A counterparty that cannot produce an 18-character code today needs a closer look.
How Fill Easy fits in
Send the code to agent@fill-easy.com and a Mainland China company search returns the registry record, translated, with the original attached. If a request is unclear, the email agent asks before it searches. CorpVerify adds UBO tracing and full KYB reports on request. Our glossary entry and the China company verification guide put the code in the wider check, and reading a business licence shows where it sits on the document.
How many of the Mainland entities in your client book are on file by credit code, and how many only by an English name?