Unified Social Credit Code

The 18-digit code is the company — invoices, banks and SAMR search all key off it, not off the English trade name.

The Unified Social Credit Code identifies the registered PRC legal entity across tax, banking, customs and registry systems; the business licence is the document on which the code appears. Signals: English-name KYC — does the bank only have a trade name? — match Chinese registered name + 18-digit code. Credit-rating confusion — is someone treating the code as a score? — the code is an identifier, not a credit rating. Sister-company code — is another entity’s code being used on invoices/accounts? — each legal entity must use its own code. Evidence: licence scan (verify code/name); publicity-system extract (verify current registration); chop/bank account name (verify entity consistency).

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

Read the 18 digits off the licence

Not off a WeChat card.

Read

Search the publicity system

Does it match name and LR?

Any old org-code still in contracts?

Update.

Legacy

Branch vs parent code?

Do not invoice on the wrong one.

Branch

Working rule: Verify the registered Chinese name and 18-digit code against the current business licence and SAMR record, and use that same entity identity across contracts, invoices, tax, customs and banking records.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

English-name kyc

Does the bank only have a trade name?

match Chinese registered name + 18-digit code

Credit-rating confusion

Is someone treating the code as a score?

the code is an identifier, not a credit rating

Sister-company code

Is another entity’s code being used on invoices/accounts?

each legal entity must use its own code.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01licence scanVerify code/name.

02publicity-system extractVerify current registration.

03chop/bank account nameVerify entity consistency.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Does a WFOE get a different format?

Same 18-digit system as domestic companies.

What if we rebrand?

Name change is a SAMR filing; the code usually stays.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

PRC Company Law (NPC laws database)

SAMR

Gov.cn

National laws database (NPC)