Notice from the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission on the Use of the Unified Social Credit Code in Handling Relevant Business Matters

Development and Reform Commission Office of Finance and Economics [2018] No. 277

General Offices (or Departments) of all ministries and commissions under the State Council, the Comprehensive Bureau of the Office for Reform and Organization of the Central Military Commission, Development and Reform Commissions of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, the Economic and Information Technology Commissions of Beijing Municipality and Jiangsu Province, and the Administration for Industry and Commerce of Heilongjiang Province:

　　To deepen the study and implementation of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and to implement the "Notice of the State Council on Approving and Forwarding the General Plan for Establishing a Unified Social Credit Code System for Legal Persons and Other Organizations" (Guofa [2015]... [Document No. 33] requires that convenience be provided for legal and non-legal entities when conducting relevant business activities. We hereby issue the following notice regarding the use of the Unified Social Credit Code in these related business activities.

　　I. 2018 After January 1 of the year, the organization code certificates issued to enterprises (including farmer specialized cooperatives; the same applies hereinafter) and business licenses that have not yet been loaded with the Unified Social Credit Code will no longer be valid. Instead, enterprises must use business licenses issued by the administration for industry and commerce and market regulation authorities, which are already loaded with the Unified Social Credit Code. Enterprises that have not yet replaced their business licenses with those loaded with the Unified Social Credit Code will continue to maintain their legal status. To avoid any disruption to normal business operations, such enterprises are urged to promptly complete the license replacement procedure.

　　II. Since 2018 Starting June 30, the organization code certificates and registration licenses that do not yet include the Unified Social Credit Code issued by government agencies, public institutions, social organizations, foundations, privately-run non-enterprise entities, grassroots mass self-governance organizations, trade unions, and other such organizations will no longer be valid. Instead, these organizations must use registration licenses bearing the Unified Social Credit Code, which are issued by the relevant registration management authorities (or approving bodies or competent supervisory units).

　　3. Business licenses of individual business operators that have not yet been assigned a Unified Social Credit Code may continue to be used. The administration for industry and commerce and the market supervision authorities may, within their information systems, first assign a Unified Social Credit Code and establish a mapping relationship with the original management code.

　　IV. The transition of existing codes for rural collective economic organizations and military institutions to the Unified Social Credit Code should be completed by 2020. Complete by the end of the year. After the expiration of the organization code certificates currently held by military institutions, they can handle related business by presenting a certificate issued by their superior administrative authority (at or above the division level). After the expiration of the organization code certificates currently held by rural collective economic organizations, they can handle related business by presenting a certificate issued by the county-level agricultural department.

　　V. When legal persons and non-legal persons carry out relevant business with government departments as well as entities in finance, telecommunications, transportation, education, healthcare, and other sectors, and are required by regulations to present identification documents, the handling agencies shall verify their licenses and certificates that bear the Unified Social Credit Code. All localities and departments, in the course of conducting other administrative and service activities involving identity verification of legal and non-legal persons, shall uniformly adopt the Unified Social Credit Code. Units that have not yet been included in the Unified Social Credit Code management system, when opening bank accounts, shall comply with the “Administrative Measures for RMB Bank Settlement Accounts” (Order No. [2003] of the People’s Bank of China). ]5) Implement the management system for bank accounts, etc.

　　6. All relevant departments and institutions are requested to promptly review and revise their regulations concerning the verification of original management codes or organizational institution codes for both legal and non-legal entities, guided by the principles of streamlining procedures, facilitating administrative processes, and promoting scientific management, so as to provide effective services to all types of legal and non-legal entities. Meanwhile, all departments and institutions that rely on these codes should use the Unified Social Credit Code in their information systems to conduct business operations, replacing the original management codes and organizational institution codes within their information systems with the Unified Social Credit Code, or establishing a mapping relationship between these codes and the Unified Social Credit Code.

　　7. Registration and management authorities (or approving bodies and competent supervisory units) in various regions are requested to widely publicize, through various channels such as documents, meetings, phone calls, text messages, and public notices, the requirements for code conversion and license renewal. They should accelerate the process of issuing licenses with the unified social credit code to both legal and non-legal entities and coordinate this effort with the "multi-license-in-one" reform for enterprise-related licenses.

　　8. Quality inspection departments in various regions are requested to work jointly with registration and management authorities to ensure the timely return, verification, and correction of unified social credit code information. They should make full use of information technology to proactively disclose, share, exchange, and push out the calibrated unified social credit codes and other relevant information, thereby effectively ensuring that the applying departments and institutions can efficiently utilize the unified social credit codes in their business operations.

　　9. Development and reform departments in various regions shall promptly coordinate to resolve any issues or difficulties encountered by relevant departments and units when using the Unified Social Credit Code in handling related business matters. Major issues should be reported to our Commission in a timely manner.

　　10. Relevant departments and institutions are requested, while carrying out the work related to the Unified Social Credit Code, to support domestic legal entities engaged in international financial business in applying for the Global Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). ), and carry out corresponding promotion and implementation efforts.

　　Attachment: Certificate format with the Unified Social Credit Code loaded

General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission

March 2018 January 1st