Every company and individual business registered in mainland China has an 18-character Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码). It is printed on the business licence (营业执照) and is the most reliable way to identify a supplier.
Structure (national standard GB 32100-2015)
9 1 330421 MA28ABTG8 4
| Position | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Registering authority. 9 = market regulation (companies and businesses); other digits are used for government bodies, social organisations and so on | 9 |
| 2 | Entity type within that authority. For "9": 1 = enterprise, 2 = individual business, 3 = farmers' cooperative | 1 |
| 3–8 | Administrative region where it registered (6-digit division code), e.g. 3304xx = Jiaxing, Zhejiang | 330421 |
| 9–17 | Organization code | MA28ABTG8 |
| 18 | Check digit, calculated from the first 17 characters | 4 |
Codes use digits and capital letters, but never I, O, S, V or Z.
How Canton Check uses it
- Check-digit validation: a code with a wrong check digit was never issued. If a supplier gives you one, that's a serious warning sign. Canton Check says "This code is not in the registry".
- Exact lookup: searching a USCC returns only the company with that exact code, never a "close match".
- Primary key: reports are tied to the USCC, so a supplier can't swap in a similarly named company.
Practical tips
- Ask every new supplier for a photo of the business licence, and compare the USCC and Chinese name with the Canton Check result.
- The region in positions 3–8 should roughly match where the supplier says it is.
- Hong Kong companies don't have a USCC. They have a Company Registration (CR) number.