What is a USCC, the 18-character code on a Chinese business license?
The Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码, USCC) is the single 18-character identifier every registered company in China carries on its business license. It is issued at registration, never changes, and is the key under which the company's registry record, tax record and customs record are filed. It is the only reliable way to name one company.
How the 18 characters are built
The code is defined by national standard GB 32100-2015, in force since 1 October 2015. It uses digits and capital letters, and it never uses the letters I, O, S, V or Z, so that it cannot be misread as 1, 0, 5 or 2.
| position | meaning | example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | registering authority (9 = market regulation, i.e. companies) | 9 |
| 2 | type of entity (1 = enterprise) | 1 |
| 3–8 | administrative division where registered (province, city, district) | 440300 (Shenzhen) |
| 9–17 | the entity's own 9-character organisation code | MA5XXXXXX |
| 18 | check character computed from the first 17 | — |
The last character is a checksum. A code that fails it is a typing error, not a company. A code that passes it is well-formed; only the register can say whether the company exists and what its status is.
Why buyers need it
Chinese company names are legal identifiers in Chinese; their English renderings vary from one document to the next, and unrelated companies share English trade names freely. The USCC does not vary. Put it into the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and one company comes back: its registered name, status, legal representative, registered capital, scope, and its penalty and abnormality history. Put in an English name and you get a guess.
Where to find it
On the business license (营业执照), top right, under the words 统一社会信用代码. On invoices (发票), customs declarations, and the company's registry page. A supplier who cannot show you one has not shown you a company.
Before 2015
Companies carried three separate numbers: a 15-digit business registration number, a 9-digit organisation code and a tax number. The 2015 "three certificates in one" reform merged them into the USCC. Documents dated before then may still show the old numbers; they map to the same company, and the register accepts both.
What Clacta does with it
Every Clacta report is keyed on the USCC. Registers are asked by the exact code; a receipted empty answer to an exact-code query is the only kind of "nothing found" the report will print as a fact. A name match without a code match is shown as a candidate, not as the company.
Sources
- National standard GB 32100-2015 Coding rules for the unified social credit identifier for legal entities and other organisations, issued by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China (now under SAMR)
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, operated by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR)
Data as of 2026-09-13 · Last reviewed 2026-09-13
Cross-check, Clacta.
Sources
GB 32100-2015 text (SAMR standards portal); National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (SAMR)