How to check a Chinese factory

1. Get the company's Chinese name and credit code

A Chinese company's legal name is in Chinese characters; the English name on a website or business card isn't its legal name. (Regulations on Enterprise Name Registration, Article 5) Ask the supplier for a copy of its business licence (营业执照). It shows the company's name, its unified social credit code, its legal representative, business scope, registered capital, registration date and address. (EU SME Centre, Simple Steps to Minimise Risks of Scams, 2026)

The unified social credit code (统一社会信用代码) is the company's identity number: unique nationwide and unchanged for as long as the company exists. It has 18 characters, using digits and capital letters but never I, O, Z, S or V, and the last character is a check digit. (National standard GB 32100-2015; State Council notice, 2015) Going by the standard's tables, ordinary companies registered with the market regulator usually have codes starting with 91.

The code and the Chinese name are what you search the official register with, and what should appear on the contract and the invoice.

2. Look it up on the official register

China's official register of companies is the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System at gsxt.gov.cn (国家企业信用信息公示系统), run by the State Administration for Market Regulation. (Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Publicity, Article 5) It's free. (People's Daily, 13 December 2023)

A company's record shows its registered details: name, type, business scope, address, registered capital, legal representative and date of establishment. (Regulations on Market Entity Registration, Articles 8 and 21) It also shows administrative penalties and pledges, and the annual report the company must publish between 1 January and 30 June each year, including its shareholders' subscribed and paid-in capital. (Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Publicity, Articles 6, 8 and 9)

Check that:

• the name, credit code and address match the licence and the contract;
• the company is still active, not revoked or deregistered;
• it isn't on the list of enterprises with abnormal operations (经营异常名录), which covers companies that missed their annual report or can't be reached at their registered address (SAMR rules on the list, as reproduced by Hong Kong's Trade and Industry Department);
• it isn't on the list of seriously illegal and dishonest entities (严重违法失信名单), reserved for serious violations (SAMR Order 44);
• its registered capital isn't the whole story: the annual report shows how much has actually been paid in.

In practice, the site is in Chinese and can be hard to reach from outside China. The EU SME Centre, which offers European small businesses free help with these lookups, notes that registering on it requires a Chinese ID card. (EU SME Centre, 2026) Searching by the credit code avoids getting the Chinese name wrong.

3. Make sure it's the actual factory

Some suppliers that present themselves as factories are trading companies buying from a factory and adding a margin. You should know which you're dealing with before you negotiate.

The business scope on the register gives a first hint. It's industry practice, not an official rule, but a manufacturer's scope usually includes production wording such as 生产 (production), 加工 (processing) or 制造 (manufacturing), while a scope that lists only 销售 (sales), 批发 (wholesale) or 贸易 (trade) suggests a trader. A company can register both, so treat it as a hint, not proof.

The real test is seeing production: see step 5.

4. Verify certificates and test reports with the lab

Certificates are sometimes edited, or belong to a company with a different name. (EU SME Centre, 2026) Don't rely on the PDF the supplier sends: check it with the lab that issued it. Several large labs let you do this online:

• SGS: verify SGS documents by uploading the PDF.
• TÜV Rheinland: search Certipedia by certificate ID.
• Intertek: its certification directories, certificate validation, and the Intertek China query site for test reports.
• Bureau Veritas (UK): check a certificate's authenticity.

For other labs, contact the office that issued the report and quote the report number. Then check that the company name, the product and model, and the standards tested against all match what you're buying. A genuine report for a different product doesn't cover yours.

5. See the factory

Before the first order, visit, or have someone visit for you. If that isn't possible, ask for a guided video call: the production line making your kind of product, the warehouse, the quality checks, and the company name on the building. Compare what you see with the registered address and business scope.

6. Protect the payment

Pay the company you contracted with. The EU SME Centre advises making sure the bank account belongs to the same company as the one invoicing you: not a personal account, not a company with a different name, even in the same group. A Hong Kong account means you're paying the seller only indirectly. (EU SME Centre, 2026) China's own foreign exchange rules say the company that exports the goods is the one that receives the payment, with exceptions such as export agents. (SAFE, Current Account Foreign Exchange Business Guidelines, 2020, Article 9)

Treat any change of bank details as fraud until proven otherwise. Fraudsters intercept or imitate a supplier's emails and send "new" bank details. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded over $3 billion in reported losses to this kind of business email fraud in 2025. (IC3 Internet Crime Report 2025)

• Confirm any change by calling the supplier on a number you've used before, not one in the email. (National Crime Agency, invoice fraud infosheet)
• Companies rarely change their bank details, so query every change, and consider a small test payment first. (Take Five to Stop Fraud)
• Tell your suppliers that your own bank details won't change. (NCSC, Phishing attacks)
• Don't rely on your bank's name check: in the UK, Confirmation of Payee covers payments within the UK only, not payments to China. (Pay.UK)

If you think you've paid a fraudster, contact your bank straight away, then report it to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud, at reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040. (Take Five to Stop Fraud)

How we help

These are the checks we run on every factory before we recommend it, and a factory that changes its bank details without confirming by voice or video is dropped. Our factory checks.

Sources

All read on 29 October 2026.

1. State Council, Regulations on Enterprise Name Registration (Decree 734), Article 5
2. EU SME Centre, Simple Steps to Minimise Risks of Scams (2026)
3. SAMR / Standardization Administration, GB 32100-2015, coding rules for the unified social credit code; State Council, notice on the unified social credit code system (2015)
4. State Council, Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Publicity (2024 text); 2014 text, Articles 5, 6, 8 and 9
5. People's Daily, 13 December 2023
6. State Council, Regulations on Market Entity Registration (Decree 746), Articles 8 and 21
7. Hong Kong Trade and Industry Department, reproduction of SAMR's rules on the list of enterprises with abnormal operations (2025)
8. SAMR, Order 44 on the list of seriously illegal and dishonest entities (2021)
9. SGS, Verify SGS documents; TÜV Rheinland, Certipedia; Intertek, Directories, Certificate validation and China query site; Bureau Veritas UK, Check the authenticity of certificates
10. SAFE, Current Account Foreign Exchange Business Guidelines (2020), Article 9
11. FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, Internet Crime Report 2025
12. National Crime Agency, Invoice fraud infosheet; Take Five to Stop Fraud, Invoice and mandate fraud; NCSC, Phishing attacks: defending your organisation; Pay.UK, Confirmation of Payee