A Chinese company has only one legal Chinese name. But they also use an English name, determined by their own, in international trade.
This post was first published in CJO GLOBAL, which is committed to providing consulting services in China-related cross-border trade risk management and debt collection. We will explain how debt collection works in China below.
So, how could one find the Chinese name and English name of a Chinese company?
1. Find the Chinese Company’s Legal Name in Chinese
All Chinese individuals and enterprises have their legal names in Chinese, and they have no legal or standard names in foreign languages.
In other words, their English names or names in other languages are named by themselves randomly. Usually, it’s hard to back-translate their weird foreign names to their legal Chinese names.
If you don’t know their legal names in Chinese, then you won’t be able to tell the Chinese court whom you are suing. You also cannot tell the Chinese law enforcement agency whom you want to complain about.
Consequently, Chinese courts or government agencies will very likely not accept your case.
So, how could you obtain a China supplier’s legal name in Chinese?
- You can ask a China supplier to provide its business license.
There are a legal name in Chinese and a unified credit code in its business license.
- You can ask a Chinese supplier to seal the contract with you.
To make a contract valid in China, Chinese companies must seal it. The official seal contains a legal name in Chinese and a unified credit code of the company.
You can check whether your supplier’s legal name in Chinese on the business license is consistent with that on the official seal. Because a scammer may get a scanned version of the business license of another company, although it is difficult for him to get another company’s seal.
2. Use the recorded English name for double checking
Although Chinese companies do not have legal names in English, they may file a standard name in English with the competent Chinese authority.
The purpose of verifying the English name of a Chinese company is to locate its legal name in Chinese.
For a Chinese company with import and export as its main business, it is necessary for such company to get its English name record-filed. Therefore, you may relate the company’s English name with its Chinese name from the recorded information.
Now, you may search for the English name of a Chinese company by using its Chinese name on MOFCOM’s system of “Record-filing and Registration of Foreign Trade Operator”.
After that, you may compare the search result with the English name that the Chinese company uses to do business with you. If the two English names are identical, you will be able to confirm its legal name in Chinese.
The system is currently available only in Chinese and can be accessed via the link here. If you do not know how to use the system, you can contact our Client Manager for help.
Unfortunately, if you only have the English name of the company, you may not be able to find the company information. The system does not provide the search function by using the English name of the company.
Thus, you’d better find a way to get the Chinese name of the company, whether it is accurate or not. At least you may have a clue to investigate its true and accurate legal name in Chinese.
We are also pleased to help you investigate its legal name in Chinese by various methods, using the English company name you provide as a clue, and then verifying step by step, so as to finally determine its legal name in Chinese and recorded English name.
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Do you need support in cross-border trade and debt collection?
CJO Global's team can provide you with China-related cross-border trade risk management and debt collection services, including:
(1) Trade Dispute Resolution
(2) Debt Collection
(3) Judgments and Awards Collection
(4) Anti-Counterfeiting & IP Protection
(5) Company Verification and Due Diligence
(6) Trade Contract Drafting and Review
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Photo by Robert Chen on Unsplash
Contributors: Meng Yu 余萌
