When a Chinese distributor or supplier sends over its company name or Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码), you can check its registration yourself on the government’s own registry. The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统, http://www.gsxt.gov.cn), run under the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), searches by company name, credit code or registration number, with separate tabs for the List of Enterprises with Abnormal Operations and the List of Seriously Illegal and Dishonest Enterprises. Here is how a first search works, what each menu does and the limits set out in the system’s own help page.
Who can use it and what you need
According to the system’s help page (网站使用帮助), GSXT lets companies, farmers’ specialised cooperatives (农民专业合作社), individual businesses (个体工商户) and other market entities file, publish, search and dispute credit information. To look up an entity, you enter its name or Unified Social Credit Code.
Account features sit on top of that. The help page says individuals must complete real-name registration before they can use the Personal Centre (个人中心), and the login screen asks for a mobile number or ID card number plus a password. The site recommends a recent version of a mainstream browser such as Chrome or Internet Explorer.
Running your first search
- On the http://www.gsxt.gov.cn home page, pick a search type above the search box: Enterprise Credit Information (企业信用信息), List of Enterprises with Abnormal Operations (经营异常名录) or List of Seriously Illegal and Dishonest Enterprises (严重违法失信名单).
- Type the company name, Unified Social Credit Code or registration number (注册号). The prompt in the search box names these three inputs.
- Click Search (查询). Name searches support fuzzy keyword matching, and a single search shows no more than 100 records.
- If nothing comes back, check what you entered. The help page states that invalid search conditions return no results.
- For local notices, open the navigation menu (导航) at the top of the home page and choose the province, autonomous region or municipality. The help page says region-specific notices appear under Other Notices (其他公告) on each provincial sub-site.
Main menus and what they are for
| Menu (Chinese) | English | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 企业信用信息 | Enterprise credit information | Search an entity’s published records by name, credit code or registration number |
| 经营异常名录 | Abnormal operations list | Check whether an entity is on the abnormal operations list |
| 严重违法失信名单 | Seriously illegal and dishonest list | Check whether an entity is on that list |
| 热搜榜 | Trending searches | Most-searched companies; “更多” opens the full list |
| 信息公告 | Notices | Browse notices on listings, penalties, spot checks and more by type and region |
| 重点领域信息公示专区 | Key sectors disclosure zone | Records for food producers, special equipment, urban gas and e-bike companies |
| 企业信息填报 | Company filing | Entities file annual reports, ad hoc information, simplified deregistration and more |
| 信用修复 | Credit restoration | Links to the credit restoration pages |
| 全国个体私营经济发展服务网 | National individual and private economy service site | Links to a separate site (xwqy.gsxt.gov.cn) |
| 使用帮助 | Help | Legal basis, functions and data sources |
| 业务咨询与技术支持联系方式 | Enquiry and technical support contacts | Phone numbers for central bodies and each region |
Company filing (企业信息填报) is for the registered entity, not for people running checks. The help page explains that an entity submitting its annual report (年度报告), ad hoc information (即时信息) or a simplified deregistration application (简易注销申请) selects the region of its registration authority and clicks “企业公示信息填报”.
Notices and the key sectors zone
Beyond single-company searches, the Notices (信息公告) page lets you search by notice title and filter by region: central, each province, autonomous region and municipality, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (兵团). Notice types are:
| Notice type (Chinese) | English |
|---|---|
| 经营异常名录列入公告 / 移出公告 | Additions to / removals from the abnormal operations list |
| 经营异常名录期满三年提醒 | Three-year reminders for the abnormal operations list |
| 严重违法失信名单公告 | Seriously illegal and dishonest list notices |
| 抽查检查公告 / 双随机一公开公告 | Spot-check notices / “double random, one public” inspection notices |
| 行政处罚公告 | Administrative penalty notices |
| 司法协助公告 | Judicial assistance notices |
| 经营主体登记注册公示公告 | Market entity registration notices |
| 无证无照经营公告 | Unlicensed operation notices |
| 撤销登记（备案）公告 | Revoked registration (filing) notices |
| 不予或撤销信用修复决定公告 | Decisions refusing or revoking credit restoration |
| 其他公告 | Other notices |
The Key Sectors (重点领域企业) page covers four groups: food producers (食品生产企业), certified special equipment companies (特种设备获证企业), urban gas safety companies (城镇燃气安全企业) and e-bike companies (电动自行车企业). Each can be filtered by region, and notices, spot checks, administrative penalties, abnormal listings, serious violations, administrative licences and credit pledges (信用承诺) each open through “查看更多”.
Searching on mobile
Besides the desktop site, the home page lists four mobile entry points: an iOS app (苹果APP), an Android app (安卓APP), a WeChat mini program (微信小程序) and an Alipay mini program (支付宝小程序).
Limits and points to watch in the official help
- Legal basis: GSXT publishes information under the Regulations on Open Government Information (政府信息公开条例), the Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure (企业信息公示暂行条例) and related laws, regulations and rules.
- Where the data comes from: records come from market regulators, other government departments and the entities themselves. Government departments and entities are each responsible for the accuracy of what they publish.
- Result cap: a fuzzy name search displays at most 100 records at a time, and invalid conditions return nothing.
- Local notices: region-specific notices are posted on provincial sub-sites under Other Notices, not on the national home page.
- Getting help: for problems, call the enquiry or technical support number at the foot of the home page for the province, autonomous region or municipality where the entity is based. The central contacts page lists SAMR technical support on 010-88650267 and 010-88650265 (9:00–11:30 and 13:30–17:00), enquiries to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on 12333, and the National Bureau of Statistics on 010-68783727.
For public credit records such as penalties and licences pooled across ministries, the government site is Credit China (信用中国); customs credit ratings for importers and exporters are checked separately on the China Customs Enterprise Credit Platform.
Coming up · We may follow up with a guide to reading GSXT search results, from registration details to annual reports and administrative penalties.
