If a Chinese supplier or distributor shows a penalty or an “abnormal operations” entry on GSXT, how long will it stay there, and can it be removed? Two rules decide that: the Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure (企业信息公示暂行条例), which set out what must be published, and the Measures for Market Regulation Credit Repair (市场监督管理信用修复管理办法), in force since 25 December 2025, which set out when negative records come down.
Who runs GSXT and what it covers
The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统, http://www.gsxt.gov.cn) is run by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR, 国家市场监督管理总局). Under the Regulations, SAMR promotes and supervises enterprise disclosure and organises the construction of the system (Article 5). It also sets the system’s technical standards (Article 25).
“Enterprise information” has two sources: information generated by companies registered with market regulators in the course of their business, and information that government departments generate while performing their duties (Article 2). Departments other than market regulators may publish their licensing and penalty decisions either on GSXT or on another system (Article 7), so GSXT is not always the only place a record appears. Disclosure rules for individual businesses (个体工商户) and farmers’ cooperatives (农民专业合作社) are set separately by SAMR (Article 25).
| Home page menu (Chinese) | English | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 企业信用信息 | Enterprise credit information | Search by company name, unified social credit code or registration number |
| 经营异常名录 | Abnormal operations list | Search companies on the abnormal operations list |
| 严重违法失信名单 | Serious violation and dishonesty list | Search companies on the serious violation list |
| 信息公告 | Notices | Browse published notices |
| 企业信息填报 | Enterprise information filing | Companies file annual reports and other disclosures |
| 全国个体私营经济发展服务网 | National individual and private economy service portal | Linked site |
| 重点领域信息公示专区 | Key sectors disclosure zone | Sector-specific disclosures |
| 信用修复 | Credit repair | Opens the national market regulation credit repair platform |
The legal basis
| Rule (Chinese) | Form and effective date | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| 企业信息公示暂行条例 | State Council Decree No. 654, effective 1 October 2014; amended by Decree No. 777, effective 1 May 2024 | Disclosure duties of government and companies, annual reports, random inspections, the abnormal operations and serious violation lists |
| 市场监督管理信用修复管理办法 | SAMR Order No. 107, effective 25 December 2025 | Categories of negative records, how long each is published, and the conditions and procedure for credit repair |
| 企业经营异常名录管理办法, 市场监督管理行政处罚信息公示规定 and two other rules | Revised alongside the credit repair measures | Conditions for removal from the abnormal operations list; when penalty records stop being published |
The 2024 amendment replaced references to the old industry and commerce administration with “market regulation departments” and renamed the system the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. It also added investigative powers: on-site inspections, inspecting and copying contracts, invoices and account books, questioning related parties, and checking the bank accounts of companies suspected of violations. Bank account checks require approval from the head of the market regulation department.
The Regulations also give users some recourse. Anyone who believes a company has published false information can report it to the market regulator, which must investigate within 20 working days and reply in writing. Anyone with questions about published information can submit a query to the relevant department and receive a written answer within 20 working days (Article 13). Anyone with evidence that a government department has published inaccurate information can ask that department to correct it (Article 12). Market regulators select companies at random to check their disclosures and publish the results on GSXT (Article 14).
How negative records are classified
The credit repair measures cover four kinds of negative records published on GSXT: market regulation penalties, adverse findings from random inspections (抽查检查结果负面信息), listings on the abnormal operations list and listings on the serious violation list (Article 2). Records fall into three tiers, minor, general and serious, each with its own publication period and repair conditions (Article 6).
| Tier | What falls in it | Publication period |
|---|---|---|
| Minor (轻微) | Penalties consisting only of a warning, only a public reprimand, or only a lower-value fine | Warning-only penalties are not published. Others come down after three months |
| General (一般) | Any penalty not classed as minor or serious | Minimum three months, maximum one year. Repair can be requested after three months; publication ends at one year |
| Serious (严重) | Penalties in food, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, special equipment and key industrial products (other than minor ones); restrictions on production, business or practice; suspension of operations; downgraded qualifications, revoked permits or business licences, closure orders; listing on the serious violation list | Minimum one year, maximum three years; longer where a statutory restriction runs beyond three years |
A “lower-value fine” (较低数额罚款) means a fine of up to RMB 50,000 on a business, or up to RMB 5,000 on a responsible individual, imposed at the lenient or mitigated level of discretion (Article 7). Within the serious tier, penalties that revoke a permit or business licence, or order closure, cannot be lifted early on application; they come down only after three years (Article 8). Where a random inspection finds a violation but no penalty, or only a minor one, follows, the adverse finding is taken down after three months by the regulator where the company is registered (Article 10).
When and how to apply for credit repair
For a penalty record, a company may apply once the minimum period has passed if it has complied with the penalty decision, taken corrective action to remove the harm and its effects, and not been penalised again for the same type of violation (Article 11). Removal from the abnormal operations list depends on fixing the reason for listing, for example filing the missing annual reports, completing a name change registration, or becoming reachable again at the registered address (Article 12). A company on the serious violation list may apply after one year; after three years it is removed automatically (Article 13).
- Apply through the national market regulation credit repair platform (市场监管信用修复全国统一平台) or in person at a market regulation office (Article 14). The “信用修复” icon on the GSXT home page opens the platform, which uses QR-code login through the “电子营业执照” (electronic business licence) mini program in WeChat or Alipay.
- Submit an application form, proof of the applicant’s legal status, a good-faith undertaking (守信承诺书), and evidence of compliance and rectification. Regulators may not ask again for documents they can obtain through government data-sharing platforms (Article 14). The platform’s login page offers a downloadable guide (信用修复指引) and templates for the application and undertaking.
- A complete application is accepted within two working days. If anything is missing, the regulator must list everything needed in a single notice within the same two days (Article 14).
- The regulator verifies compliance online, on paper or on site (Article 15). Decisions on removal from the abnormal operations list come within two working days of acceptance; decisions on penalty records, inspection findings and the serious violation list come within seven working days. Complex cases can be extended by ten working days (Article 16).
- Once repair is approved, the data must be updated within three working days (Article 17). With the applicant’s consent, the decision can be delivered electronically through the platform or by email, with the same legal force as a paper document (Article 19).
Limits and points to watch
- False applications: concealment or falsification leads to refusal, or revocation of an approval already given. The refusal or revocation is published for three years, during which the company cannot apply again (Article 23).
- Grounds for refusal: repair is refused where it could endanger national security or the public interest (Article 18). Decisions can be challenged through administrative review or litigation (Article 24).
- Restructuring: a company carrying out a court-approved restructuring plan or settlement can apply for temporary repair. Records are temporarily masked or marked “重整计划或者和解协议执行中” (restructuring plan or settlement under way), and publication resumes if the plan fails (Article 22).
- Deregistered companies: records stop being published once a company is deregistered, but restrictions on its legal representative or managers taking similar roles still apply under the relevant laws (Article 20).
- Data sharing: market regulators share data with Credit China (信用中国) and other credit systems and recognise each other’s results (Article 25). Third-party company-search services must update their data in line with what GSXT publishes (Article 26).
- Unlawful alteration or collection: the Regulations prohibit anyone from altering published enterprise information or obtaining enterprise information unlawfully.
For penalty and licensing records from other ministries, search Credit China (信用中国). For an importer’s or exporter’s customs credit rating, use the China Customs enterprise credit disclosure platform.
Coming up · We may follow up with a guide to searching NMPA cosmetics registration and filing records.
