Opinions, knowledge and resources from China Checkup's expert contributors
The possibility of finding details on offshore Chinese companies depends primarily on the jurisdiction in which they are registered.
Such companies aren't registered in China, so registration information isn't going to be found there. It is necessary to identify the country in which they are registered and lookup details on that country's system.
This article provides guidance, and lists useful resources, for getting registration information about offshore Chinese companies.
There are many possible definitions, but we understand an offshore Chinese company to be an entity owned/controlled by a Chinese individual or company, which is registered outside of China.
China is a place with multiple jurisdictions, so we are not talking about companies registered in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan.
Offshore Chinese companies can literally be registered anywhere. Some Chinese companies we have been asked to verify turned out to be registered in places as diverse as Australia, British Virgin Islands, Malaysia, Seychelles and the UK.
Not really, as our services are focused on companies registered in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In many cases however, we find that the owners of an Onshore Chinese company have also registered an offshore company under the same name (including a Chinese version), often with an associated offshore bank account in Mainland China.
This was the case recently when we verified a "Hangzhou" company, which we found was actually registered in the UK.
In such circumstances we can often verify whether or not there is an associated onshore entity for the offshore Chinese company.
As we mentioned earlier, the availability of information on offshore Chinese companies depends on where they are registered.
If you can identify which jurisdiction the company is registered in, you should in most cases be able to lookup their company information.
Note that data is not always available in English and many countries will charge a fee or have a time-consuming application process for accessing information.
Below are some online resources we have previously used to find details on offshore Chinese companies.
These websites can be used to make searches of companies in mutiple jurisdictions:
| Website | Available Language(s) |
|---|---|
| OpenCorporates | English |
The following websites are each country-specific and are listed in alphabetical order.
| Country | Website | Available Language(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Australia |
Australian Business Register - ABN Lookup Australian Securities & Investments Commission |
English |
| British Virgin Islands | BVI Financial Services Commission | English |
| Canada | Corporations Canada | English, French |
| Cayman Islands | General Registry | English |
| Italy | Infocamere | English, Italian |
| Japan | National Tax Agency | English, Japanese |
| Malaysia | The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) | English, Malay |
| New Zealand | Companies Register | English |
| Samoa | Samoa Business Registry | English |
| Seychelles | E-Service Gateway | English |
| Singapore | Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority - BizFile | English |
| Sweden | Bolagsverket - Swedish Companies Registration Office | English, Swedish |
| Switzerland | Business Monitor | English, French, German |
| Thailand | Department of Business - DBD DataWarehouse | English, Thai |
| UK | Companies House | English |
| USA - Delaware | Delaware Division of Corporations | English |
We'll add other websites to this list as and when we find and have used them. You can also take a look at the UK government's list of overseas registries if you can't find the one you are looking for here.
Do you know of any other resources for getting details of offshore Chinese companies? If so, we'd love to hear from you!
View this comprehensive list of cities in China from Ankang to Zunyi!
We have included all cities in China that are either at, or above, prefecture-level and they are listed both alphabetically and grouped by province.
This list of Chinese AMR websites includes links to the AMR branch website for each province/administrative region in China.
In case you're wondering, the acronym "AMR" stands for "Administration for Market Regulation", which is a newly-launched Chinese government agency created by the merger of many previous agencies, including the AIC and AQSIQ.
This super regulator is now responsible for a wide range of regulatory matters in Mainland China, so if you need to get in touch with them you should find this list of Chinese AMR websites useful.
The China AEO Certificate is a document held by companies in China engaged in import and export activities.
Issued by China Customs, the certificate specifies the company's enterprise classification, which determines their level of inspections and more.
Requesting and verifying a supplier's China AEO certificate can be a sensible measure to understand if they are registered with China Customs as an "Authorized Economic Operator" and to check their AEO type.
Matt Slater
Author
Hi there, I'm Matt, the Founder & CEO of China Checkup. Originally from the UK, I am now based in Brisbane, Australia.
Frustrated by the scarcity of concise, high-quality and timely information about Chinese companies, I setup China Checkup whilst living in Shanghai in 2013.
My team are proud that China Checkup's company verification reports have now helped thousands of clients from all corners of the world to do business in China more safely.