Overview
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Region | Asia-Pacific |
| ISO 3166-1 | CN / CHN |
| Registry | SAMR/AMR |
| Last updated | 2026-05-06 |
Identifiers
Collect two identifiers from each business customer in China (People’s Republic of China — Mainland) and submit them as strings on the application body.| API field | Local name | Issuer |
|---|---|---|
businessInfo.taxId | 统一社会信用代码 (USCC) | SAMR/AMR |
businessInfo.businessEntityId | 统一社会信用代码 (USCC) | SAMR/AMR |
Sector regulators
PBoC · NFRA · CSRC · SAFE · CAC · MIIT
Legal structures
| Local name | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 有限责任公司 (Yǒuxiàn Zérèn Gōngsī) | 有限公司 | Limited liability company with 1–50 shareholders; the default SME vehicle for domestic and foreign investors; governed by Company Law 2024. Equivalent to a US LLC. |
| 一人有限责任公司 (Yīrén Yǒuxiàn Zérèn Gōngsī) | 一人有限公司 | Single-shareholder LLC (natural person or single corporate shareholder); heightened liability-piercing scrutiny; registrable under Company Law 2024. Equivalent to a US single-member LLC. |
| 国有独资公司 (Guóyǒu Dúzī Gōngsī) | 国有独资公司 | Wholly state-owned single-shareholder LLC under SASAC oversight; limited liability applies. Equivalent to a US single-member LLC (government-owned). |
| 股份有限公司 (Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) | 股份公司 | Joint-stock limited company with freely transferable shares and no cap on shareholder count; required structure for A-share public listing. Equivalent to a US C-Corp. |
| 普通合伙企业 (Pǔtōng Héhuǒ Qǐyè) | 普通合伙企业 | General partnership where all partners bear unlimited joint-and-several liability; no separate legal personality; governed by Partnership Enterprise Law 2006. Equivalent to a US general partnership. |
| 有限合伙企业 (Yǒuxiàn Héhuǒ Qǐyè) | 有限合伙企业 | Limited partnership with at least one general partner bearing unlimited liability and at least one limited partner with liability capped at their contribution; commonly used for private-equity fund vehicles. Equivalent to a US limited partnership. |
| 特殊普通合伙企业 (Tèshū Pǔtōng Héhuǒ Qǐyè) | 特殊普通合伙企业 | Special general partnership reserved for licensed professional-services firms (law, accounting); partners bear unlimited liability only for their own professional negligence, not co-partners’ fault. Equivalent to a US limited liability partnership. |
| 个人独资企业 (Gèrén Dúzī Qǐyè) | 个人独资企业 | Sole proprietorship enterprise owned by a single natural person who bears unlimited personal liability; can hire employees and establish branches; governed by the Sole Proprietorship Enterprise Law 1999. Equivalent to a US sole proprietorship. |
| 个体工商户 (Gètǐ Gōngshānghù) | 个体户 | Individual trader or household business (natural person or family); no separate legal personality; unlimited personal/family liability; simpler registration than individual proprietorship, no branch rights. Equivalent to a US sole proprietorship (DBA). |
| 外国公司在华分支机构 (Wàiguó Gōngsī Zài Huá Fēnzhī Jīgòu) | 分公司 / 代表处 | Branch office or representative office of a foreign company registered in mainland China; not a separate legal entity—the foreign parent is directly liable; representative offices restricted to non-revenue liaison activities. Equivalent to a US branch or representative office. |
How documents combine
For each evidence area, this table shows whether the listed documents are alternatives (any one of) or a bundle (all required). The artifact-by-artifact lookup follows below.| Evidence area | Documents needed |
|---|---|
| Legal Registration | 营业执照 |
| Constitutive Documents | 公司章程 |
| Tax Registration | All required: Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) Registration + STA Tax Registration Record |
| Ownership Records | NECIPS Extract |
| Governance Records | NECIPS/GSXT extract |
| Signing Authority | All required: 董事会决议 + 公章 (Company Chop) |
| Address | Any one of: 租赁合同 · 水电费账单 · 银行对账单 |
Documents to collect
The physical documents you’ll collect from your customer, with the evidence area each one proves. One document can prove multiple areas — for example, Brazil’s Cartão CNPJ covers both tax and business-registration proof, so it appears once with both areas listed.| Document | Proves |
|---|---|
| 营业执照 (Business Licence) | Legal Registration |
| 公司章程 (Articles of Association) | Constitutive Documents |
| Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) Registration | Tax Registration |
| STA Tax Registration Record | Tax Registration |
| NECIPS Extract | Ownership Records |
| NECIPS/GSXT extract (lists directors, supervisors, legal representative) | Governance Records |
| 董事会决议 (Board Resolution) | Signing Authority |
| 公章 (Company Chop) | Signing Authority |
| 租赁合同 | Address |
| 水电费账单 (≤90日内) | Address |
| 银行对账单 (≤90日内) | Address |
| Sector-Specific License | Sector-specific: PBoC payment institution licence, NFRA banking, insurance licence, CSRC securities licence, CAC ICP, 网络安全 licence, MIIT VATS licence (ICP经营许可证) |
Collection notes
- Legal Registration: Issued by local AMR; printable from gsxt.gov.cn; confirms USCC, scope, legal rep.
- Constitutive Documents: Filed at AMR on incorporation; amendments must be re-filed; FIEs also have historical JV contract pre-2020 (now superseded by AoA).
- Tax Registration: No separate tax certificate issued since 2015 unification; USCC printed on Business Licence is the tax ID. Request STA system printout if auditor needs explicit STA confirmation.
- Sector-Specific License: Collect the licence(s) relevant to the entity’s business scope; scope is stated on the Business Licence.
- Governance Records: Annual report filings on NECIPS update current officers; SAMR extract is the primary artifact.
- Signing Authority: Company chop (公章) has independent legal binding force in PRC law — a stamped document can bind the company even absent a signatory’s personal signature. Always obtain and verify the chop alongside any board resolution.
- Address: Conduit universal policy: lease (no time bound) OR utility bill OR bank statement, with utility/bank dated within 90 days. Same evidence satisfies both registered-address and operating-address checks.
Person roles
When you submit a person on the application body, set theirrole to one of Conduit’s canonical BusinessPersonRole values. Use this table to map a local corporate-governance title onto the right canonical role.
| Local role | Canonical API role | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 法定代表人 (Fǎdìng Dàibiǎorén — Legal Representative) | LEGAL_REPRESENTATIVE | Statutory signatory; binds company in all external acts; must be a director or manager per 2024 Company Law. |
| 董事 (Dǒngshì — Director, board member) | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Member of the Board of Directors (董事会); governance role. |
| 执行董事 (Zhíxíng Dǒngshì — Executive Director) | CONTROLLING_PERSON | In lieu of a full board in small LLCs; day-to-day operational authority; often also the Legal Representative. |
| 总经理 / 经理 (Zǒngjīnglǐ — General Manager) | CONTROLLING_PERSON | Senior executive appointed by board; day-to-day operations. |
Notes
- Single identifier: the 18-character Unified Social Credit Code (USCC) serves as both the registry number and the corporate tax ID — collect one certificate; both
businessInfo.taxIdandbusinessInfo.businessEntityIdtake the same value. - Company chop (公章) has independent legal force. A document stamped with a valid 公章 can bind the company under PRC law even without the legal representative’s personal signature. Always collect and independently verify the chop alongside board resolutions; do not accept resolutions that lack a chop.
- USCC = tax ID = registration number. Since 2015 there is no separate tax certificate to collect; the 18-character USCC printed on the Business Licence is the authoritative identifier across SAMR, STA, and PBoC systems. Legacy Organization Code Certificates (9-digit) or old Business Licence Numbers are obsolete — reject them.
- 2024 Company Law (eff. 2024-07-01) allows supervisory board to be replaced by an audit committee. Small LLCs may now operate with no supervisor at all (unanimous shareholder approval required). The supervisor role in the NECIPS extract may therefore be blank for post-2024 entities; this is legally valid, not a gap.
- FIE / WFOE structure changed under Foreign Investment Law 2020. Pre-2020 WFOEs and JVs governed by the old Sino-Foreign JV laws are now subject to standard Company Law; historical joint venture contracts (合资合同) are superseded by the Articles of Association. Request the current AoA, not legacy JV contracts.