China Company Operation Permits: More Than a Business License

In China, enterprises can only be legally established if they have the related qualification certificates, and different enterprises need different qualification certificates.

Understand the qualifications required for each type of company can help you to avoid doing business with illegal enterprises. Next, I will introduce the qualifications required by trading companies and manufacturing companies in China.

Trading Company Business License

Compared with manufacturing companies, trading companies need fewer operation permits. Most trading companies just need a business license which is the required certificate for all kinds of Chinese companies.

A business license is a certificate issued by the administrative department for an enterprise or individual business operator to engage in a production or business operation. As is shown in the picture, it includes the following information:

Import and export qualifications

It is not a required license for most Chinese enterprises, but for trading companies who want to do business with foreign buyers, it is necessary to have import and export qualifications.

However, there is no such thing as an import & export license in China. If a company has qualifications for doing import & export business in China, there will be digital records in the Chinese government database.

If you want to check whether your supplier is legally registered in the customs (or has import & export qualification), you need to ask him for Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码) and enterprise name in Chinese, then go to the website of China Customs Import and Export Credit Information Publicity System to search for the information.

If you want to know the detailed process, you can read another article on our website. What is the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System in China?

Here is an example of the digital record of import and export qualification, it includes the following information:

Manufacturing Company

As I have mentioned before, all Chinese companies need to have business licenses, and manufacturing companies are no exception. Other than that, different kinds of manufacturing companies are required to have different operating permits.

Then I will use food factories, toy factories, and electronics factories as examples to introduce the certificates these companies need to have. Without these operation permits, these Chinese factories cannot be considered legit.

Food Factory

1. 食品生产许可证 (Food Production License)

Anyone who engages in food production, food sales, or catering services need to obtain a license according to Chinese law.

It includes the following information:

生产者名称	Name
社会信用代码	Unified Social Credit Code
法定代表人	Legal Representative
住所	Registered Address
生产地址	Production Address
食品类别	Type of Food
许可证编号	License Code
发证机关	License Issuing Agency
日常监督管理机构	Supervising Agency
日常监督管理人员	Supervisor

2. 食品经营许可证 (Food business License)

It covers food and beverage services. It is a required certificate for a legal food company to sell food.

It includes the following information:

生产者名称	Name
社会信用代码	Unified Social Credit Code
法定代表人	Legal Representative
住所	Registered Address
生产地址	Production Address
食品类别	Type of Food
许可证编号	License Code
发证机关	License Issuing Agency
日常监督管理机构	Supervise Agency
日常监督管理人员	Supervisor

3. 食品卫生许可证 (Food Hygiene Permit)

It is a hygiene license issued to a company or individual who engages in food production or trade after examination and approval by the food regulatory department.

It includes the following information:

Toys Factory

1. 工业生产许可证 (Industrial Production License)

In order to ensure the quality and safety of products, the administrative department has formulated and implemented a monitoring system aimed at controlling the production conditions.

It includes the following information:

China National Compulsory Product Certification

This is a system in order to protect personal safety, animal and plant life, the environment, and national security.

It includes the following information:

Electronics factory

1. 工业生产许可证 (Industrial Production License)

The same as that of toy factories.

2. 安全生产标准化证书 (Work Safety Standardization Certificate)

This is to certify a factory’s production condition complies with certain safety standards.

It includes the following information:

3. 环境保护审批证 (Environmental Protection Approval Certificate)

Before engaging in any activity harmful or likely to be harmful to the environment, an application must be filed with related administrative authorities. After receiving approval, a permit will be issued, and then such activity can be taken.

It includes the following information:

Conclusion

In order to do business legally in China, every company needs to have related operating permits, especially manufacturing companies. If you want to know whether this company exists in China legally or if you want to check the authenticity of the operating permits of a company, you can contact us, we are willing to help you.