Check a Chinese Company's Customs Registration

A supplier sends you a ten-character customs code after you ask whether it can export directly. The code is worth checking, but it does not answer the whole question. You first need to confirm that the code belongs to the same Chinese legal entity named on your contract. You then need to read the role shown in the customs record. Even a valid filing does not prove that this company will be the exporter, consignee or consignor, customs broker, invoice issuer, or payment beneficiary for your particular shipment.

Start with three records, not one customs code

Business registry Which mainland Chinese legal entity exists, and what are its exact name and Unified Social Credit Code?

Customs enterprise record Which role or qualification is filed for that entity, under which customs code?

Transaction and shipment documents Who sold the goods, signed the contract, received payment, issued the invoice and acted in this movement of goods?

Current customs filing

China's Customs Law requires consignees and consignors of imported or exported goods, as well as customs declaration enterprises, to file with Customs before handling customs declarations. The current General Administration of Customs service guide describes the filing for an import-export consignee or consignor as an administrative confirmation and says approved information is published through the customs enterprise platform. The official English text of the Customs Law uses the terms importer or exporter and customs clearing agent; the current Chinese guide governs the procedure and validity discussed here.

Cancelled foreign-trade operator recordation

The customs filing is not the former 对外贸易经营者备案登记. The Ministry of Commerce explains that the statutory provision for that separate commerce recordation was removed on 30 December 2022 and local commerce authorities stopped processing it. The official cancellation notice says authorities should no longer require the old recordation document for the specified import-export procedures. The Foreign Trade Law revised in 2025 does not restore that former Article 9 rule. Asking a supplier for the cancelled document can send the review in the wrong direction; cancellation of commerce recordation did not cancel customs filing.

Find the exact company and read the disclosed fields

Start with the supplier's complete Chinese legal name from its business licence. Do not rely on an English trading name, marketplace store name or shortened brand. If the entity has not been established, first confirm which company appears on the licence and whether a separate operating permit is relevant. Keep the eighteen-character Unified Social Credit Code beside the name. It is the strongest practical bridge between the business-registry and customs results because related companies can share brand words, addresses, directors or sales staff.

1. Open China Customs' official public query services and choose 企业信息公示, meaning enterprise information disclosure.
2. Enter the full Chinese company name or Unified Social Credit Code where the current interface permits it. A 2025 government walkthrough also shows that a company-name keyword can produce candidates.
3. Open the exact legal entity, rather than treating a list result or search snippet as the record. Match the Chinese name and USCC before reading the customs fields.
4. Preserve the query date and the official page. Interfaces and access controls can change; do not bypass a CAPTCHA or call an unavailable platform a negative result.

企业名称 / Company name

It must match the Chinese legal entity under review, including branch, subsidiary and location wording. A shared brand does not create a match.

统一社会信用代码 / Unified Social Credit Code

This eighteen-character identifier connects the customs result to the business registration. It is not the customs filing code or a shipment number.

海关备案编码 / Customs filing code

This identifies the customs enterprise record. Do not accept a code detached from the company name and USCC.

海关资质信息 / Customs qualification information

The public walkthrough shows the qualification type, corresponding filing code and disclosed validity information. Read the role rather than translating every result as an export licence.

下级单位信息 / Lower-level unit information

This can identify filed branches and their supervising Customs office. It prevents a branch from being silently treated as its parent.

Query date

Record it because names, addresses, roles, credit information and filing status can change after the search.

Long-term does not mean unchanged. The current Customs guide describes the consignee or consignor filing as valid for the long term. Companies still need to update specified information when relevant details change, and records can be cancelled. Recheck after a long delay or a change of contracting entity.

The result belongs to a branch

The current guide allows a qualifying branch to apply after its parent completes the relevant consignee or consignor filing, but the branch remains a distinct registered unit. If the quotation comes from the parent while the beneficiary and customs code belong to a branch, ask which entity will sign, invoice, receive payment and appear in the shipping documents. The corporate relationship explains the connection; it does not make the names interchangeable.

The search returns no result

Recheck the Chinese characters, USCC, former names and whether the supplier has identified a different export company. A manufacturer can use an export agent, and a domestic seller may not itself be filed as the customs-facing consignee or consignor. A genuine no-result raises an identity and route question. It does not, by itself, prove that the supplier is fictitious or the proposed trade unlawful.

Read the filed role against the proposed shipment route

The same purchase can use several legitimate routes. Extra names become a problem when their roles cannot be explained consistently.

Proposed arrangement	What the filing can support	What the buyer still needs to establish
The seller exports in its own name. The contracting company sells the goods, invoices the buyer, receives payment and appears as the relevant consignee or consignor.	The public record can support that this exact company is filed as an 进出口货物收发货人, an import-export consignee or consignor. A separate declaration enterprise may still lodge the declaration without displacing the seller.	Confirm that the next shipment uses the stated route and that the declaration, transport instructions and product documents relate to the same order. The filing does not show that a future shipment has already been declared.
An affiliated export company handles the sale. The factory appears in production records, while an affiliated trading company contracts, invoices, receives payment and takes the customs-facing role.	The affiliate's filing can support its recorded role as an import-export consignee or consignor. It does not prove that the affiliate owns the factory, controls production or can bind the manufacturer.	Verify the affiliate as a real company, disclose the relationship before payment, and identify which entity has promised product quality, delivery and remedies. Corporate affiliation does not merge legal obligations.
An external export agent or customs broker appears. An agent may enter commercial export documents, while a declaration enterprise can lodge a declaration for the underlying consignee or consignor.	A broker filed as a 报关企业, or customs declaration enterprise, may act for another party. Its filing does not make it the product seller, factory, owner of the goods or authorized payment beneficiary.	Identify each entity by its full Chinese legal name and explain why it appears in the contract, invoice, payment or shipping file. A customs filing cannot justify an otherwise unexplained request to pay a broker for the goods.

• The public filing does not prove the transaction. Compare the proposed route with the purchase contract, commercial invoice, beneficiary account, booking instructions and, when available, the customs declaration. The filing does not list every product, destination, declaration, contract counterparty or beneficial owner of goods, and it does not establish factory ownership, product approval or destination-market compliance. If a certificate of origin is supplied, verify that document separately and compare the names on it with the seller and shipping parties.
• A freight company introduces a separate role. A forwarder may arrange transport, consolidate cargo or coordinate documents while a declaration enterprise performs the customs work. Neither role automatically authorizes a change in beneficiary or transfers the seller's contractual responsibility. When a logistics company is introduced late, use the separate freight forwarder checks and keep the sales and shipping questions distinct.

Decide whether the entity chain is clear enough to proceed

Ask the supplier to correct one plain statement: “[Full Chinese legal name] sells and contracts for the goods; [entity] issues the invoice; payment goes to [beneficiary]; production is performed by [factory, if different]; [entity] will be the consignee or consignor; and [entity, if any] will act as export agent or customs broker.”

• Verify the starting entity. A ChinaValidate company report can help identify the registered Chinese company, its USCC, status, address and corporate relationships. It does not certify a customs filing or shipment route. Use the Customs public record for the filed role, then use transaction documents to establish who is acting in the order.
• The same entity and documents align. The customs result supports a coherent route when the exact contracting entity has the expected filing and the invoice, beneficiary and intended shipment parties agree with that explanation. It still does not replace product, factory, payment or shipment checks.
• A different exporter or broker is disclosed. Verify the additional entity and its stated role. Consistent documents and a clear commercial explanation are more informative than treating every extra name as fraud.
• No one can explain the entity chain. Pause when the supplier cannot say who will contract, receive payment and appear in the export chain, or when the explanation changes after payment instructions are issued. The problem is not the absence of a badge; responsibility for the order cannot yet be assigned to a verified legal entity.