The New “3 Certificates Combined Into 1” AIC Registration System In China.

22 November, 2015

 

 

In August and September 2015, the Administration for Industry and Commerce (“AIC”) in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai respectively released their own respective announcement regarding the full implementation of the new “3 certificates combined into 1, 1 certificate with 1 code” registration system ( “New “3 in 1” Registration System”) which  took effect on 1 September in Guangzhou,  29 September 2015 in Beijing, and 1 October 2015 in Shanghai. These AIC announcements were issued in accordance with and largely mirror the requirements of a previous circular issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (Gong Shang Qi Zhu Zi [2015]121) and other national provisions on implementing the reform, which aims at simplification of the registration procedures for the entities in China.

 

Under the New “3 in 1” Registration System, the new business license ("New Business License") to be issued by the AIC will adopt a unified social credit code and integrates: (1) the old business license; (2) origanization code certificate; and (3) tax registration certificate (In Beijing, the statistic registration certificate will also be integrated where in Guangzhou and Shanghai such certificate has been abolished) (“Old Non-combined Certificates”).

 

 

 

Newly Established Enterprises

 

For new enterprises to be established after the implementation of the New “3 in 1” Registration System, they are only required to apply for a New Business License with an unified social credit code from the AIC without having to apply for the organization code certificate, tax registration certificate and statistic registration certificate from other authorities.

 

Existing Enterprises

 

The exsiting enterprises will need to apply for the New Busienss License with an unified social credit code from the AIC by submitting the requierd application documents and surrendering the original of the Old Non-Combined Certificates. There is no application fee for such replacment registration with the AIC.

 

In Beijing and Shanghai, there will be a transition period for the New “3 in 1” Registration System reform, namely from 29 September 2015 to 31 December 2020 in Beijing and from 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2017 in Shanghai. The Old Non-combined Certificates which have not been replaced with the New Business License will  remain effective during the transition period, but will become void thereafter.

 

In Guangzhou, there will be no transition period. The Old Non-combined Certifiates obtained before 1 September 2015 shall continue to be valid and it is not required to be replaced by the New Business License unless further notice issued by the Guangzhou AIC states otherwise.  

 

The applicable entities in Shanghai and Beijing shall bear in mind that a New Business Licence shall be obtained before the end of the transition period. The entities in Guangzhou and other cities shall keep an eye on the further notice issued by the local AIC from time to time in case the deadline for the replacement of such a New Business License is to be announced.

 

The types of entities subject to the New “3 in 1” Registration System are shown in the table below.

 

	Transition Period	Validity of Old Non-combined Certificates
Beijing	From 29 September 2015 to 31 December 2020	Valid during Transition Period Void after Transition Period
Shanghai	From 1 October 2015 to 31 December 2017	Valid during Transition Period Void after Transition Period
Guangzhou	Nil	Old Non-combined Certificates obtained before 1 September 2015 remain validuntil further notice