Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Publicity (Order No. 654 of the State Council)

Order of the State Council of the people's Republic of China

No. 654

The Interim Regulations on enterprise information publicity, which was adopted at the 57th executive meeting of the State Council on July 23, 2014, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of October 1, 2014.

Premier Li Keqiang

August 7, 2014

Interim Regulations on enterprise information publicity

Article 1 These Regulations are formulated for the purpose of ensuring fair competition, promoting the integrity and self-discipline of enterprises, standardizing the publicity of enterprise information, strengthening the credit constraint of enterprises, maintaining the safety of transactions, improving the efficiency of government supervision and expanding social supervision.

Article 2 the enterprise information mentioned in these Regulations refers to the information formed during the production and business activities of enterprises registered with the administrative department for Industry and commerce, and the information that can reflect the status of enterprises generated by government departments in the course of performing their duties.

Article 3 enterprise information publicity shall be true and timely. If the publicized enterprise information involves state secrets, state security or social public interests, it shall be reported to the competent administrative department for confidentiality or the state security organ for approval. Where the enterprise information publicized by the relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level involves enterprise business secrets or personal privacy, it shall be reported to the competent department at the higher level for approval.

Article 4 the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government shall lead the work of enterprise information publicity in their respective administrative regions, and promote the construction of enterprise credit information publicity systems in their respective administrative regions in accordance with the overall requirements of the construction of the national social credit information platform.

Article 5 the administrative department for Industry and commerce under the State Council shall promote and supervise the work of enterprise information publicity and organize the construction of enterprise credit information publicity system. Other relevant departments under the State Council shall, in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, do a good job in publicizing enterprise information.

The relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall publicize the enterprise information in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.

Article 6 the administrative department for Industry and Commerce shall publicize the following enterprise information generated in the course of performing its duties through the enterprise credit information publicity system:

（1） Registration and filing information;

（2） Registration information of chattel mortgage;

（3） Registration information of equity pledge;

（4） Administrative penalty information;

（5） Other information that should be publicized according to law.

The enterprise information specified in the preceding paragraph shall be publicized within 20 working days from the date of generation.

Article 7 other government departments other than the administrative departments for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as other government departments) shall publicize the following enterprise information generated in the course of performing their duties:

（1） Approval, change and extension of administrative license;

（2） Administrative penalty information;

（3） Other information that should be publicized according to law.

Other government departments may publicize the enterprise information specified in the preceding paragraph through the enterprise credit information publicity system or other systems. The administrative departments for Industry and Commerce and other government departments shall, in accordance with the overall requirements of the construction of the national social credit information platform, realize the interconnection and sharing of enterprise information.

Article 8 an enterprise shall submit the annual report of the previous year to the administrative department for Industry and commerce through the enterprise credit information publicity system from January 1 to June 30 of each year, and publicize it to the public.

An enterprise established and registered in the same year shall submit and publicize its annual report from the next year.

Article 9 the annual report of an enterprise shall include:

（1） Enterprise correspondence address, postal code, contact telephone, e-mail and other information;

（2） Information on the existence status of the enterprise such as opening, closing and liquidation;

（3） Information on the establishment of enterprises and the purchase of equity by enterprises;

（4） If the enterprise is a limited liability company or a joint stock limited company, the amount of capital contribution subscribed and actually paid by its shareholders or promoters, the time and method of capital contribution, etc;

（5） Information on equity transfer and other equity changes of shareholders of a limited liability company;

（6） The name and website of the enterprise website and the online shop engaged in network operation;

（7） Information about the number of employees, total assets, total liabilities, guarantees provided to the outside, total owner's equity, total operating income, main business income, total profit, net profit and total tax payment.

The information specified in Items 1 to 6 of the preceding paragraph shall be publicized to the public, and the information specified in Item 7 shall be publicized to the public at the choice of the enterprise.

With the consent of the enterprise, citizens, legal persons or other organizations may query the information that the enterprise chooses not to publicize.

Article 10 an enterprise shall publicize the following information to the public through the enterprise credit information publicity system within 20 working days from the date of formation of the following information:

（1） The amount of capital contribution subscribed and actually paid by the shareholders of a limited liability company or the promoters of a joint stock limited company, the time and method of capital contribution, etc;

（2） Information on equity transfer and other equity changes of shareholders of a limited liability company;

（3） Information on acquisition, change and extension of administrative license;

（4） Registration information of intellectual property pledge;

（5） Information on administrative penalties;

（6） Other information that should be publicized according to law.

If the administrative department for Industry and Commerce finds that the enterprise fails to perform the obligation of publicity in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, it shall order it to perform within a time limit.

Article 11 government departments and enterprises shall be responsible for the authenticity and timeliness of the information they publicize.

Article 12 If a government department finds that the information it publicizes is inaccurate, it shall correct it in a timely manner. If a citizen, legal person or other organization has evidence to prove that the information publicized by a government department is inaccurate, it has the right to require the government department to correct it.

If an enterprise finds that the information it publicizes is inaccurate, it shall correct it in time; However, the correction of the information publicized in the annual report of the enterprise shall be completed before June 30 of each year. The information before and after correction shall be publicized at the same time.

Article 13 If citizens, legal persons or other organizations find that the information publicized by enterprises is false, they may report to the administrative department for Industry and commerce. The administrative department for Industry and commerce that receives the report shall check and deal with it within 20 working days from the date of receiving the report materials, and inform the informant in writing of the handling.

If a citizen, legal person or other organization has questions about the enterprise information publicized in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, it may apply to the government department for inquiry. The government department receiving the inquiry application shall give a written reply to the applicant within 20 working days from the date of receiving the application.

Article 14 the administrative department for Industry and commerce under the State Council and the administrative departments for Industry and commerce under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government shall, in accordance with the requirements of fairness and standardization, randomly draw numbers according to the enterprise registration number, determine the enterprises to be sampled, and organize the inspection of the information publicized by the enterprises.

The administrative department for Industry and Commerce may spot check the information publicized by enterprises by means of written inspection, on-the-spot verification and network monitoring. The administrative department for Industry and Commerce may, when conducting spot checks on the information publicized by enterprises, entrust professional institutions such as accounting firms, tax agent firms and law firms to carry out relevant work, and make use of the inspection and verification results made by other government departments or professional conclusions made by professional institutions according to law.

The results of the spot check shall be announced to the public by the administrative department for Industry and commerce through the enterprise credit information publicity system.

Article 15 the administrative department for Industry and Commerce shall carry out spot checks on the information publicized by the enterprise according to law or check according to the reports. The enterprise shall cooperate, accept inquiries and investigations, truthfully reflect the situation and provide relevant materials.

For enterprises that fail to cooperate in serious cases, the administrative department for Industry and Commerce shall publicize through the enterprise credit information publicity system.

Article 16 no citizen, legal person or other organization may illegally modify the enterprise information publicized, or illegally obtain enterprise information.

Article 17 in case of any of the following circumstances, the administrative department for Industry and commerce at or above the county level shall be listed in the list of abnormal business operations and publicized to the public through the enterprise credit information publicity system to remind them to fulfill their publicity obligations; If the circumstances are serious, the relevant competent departments shall impose administrative penalties in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations; If losses are caused to others, they shall be liable for compensation according to law; If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law:

（1） The enterprise fails to publicize the annual report within the time limit specified in these regulations or fails to publicize the relevant enterprise information within the time limit ordered by the administrative department for Industry and commerce;

（2） The enterprise conceals the true situation and practises fraud in publicizing information.

If an enterprise listed in the list of abnormal operations performs the obligation of publicity in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, the administrative department for Industry and commerce at or above the county level shall remove it from the list of abnormal operations; If the enterprise fails to fulfill the obligation of publicity in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations for three years, the administrative department for Industry and commerce under the State Council or the administrative department for Industry and commerce under the people's Government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government shall list the serious illegal enterprises and publicize them to the public through the enterprise credit information publicity system. The legal representatives and responsible persons of enterprises listed in the list of enterprises with serious violations of laws shall not serve as the legal representatives and responsible persons of other enterprises within three years.

If an enterprise does not fall under the circumstances specified in the first paragraph within 5 years from the date of being listed in the list of enterprises with serious violations, the administrative department for Industry and Commerce of the State Council or the administrative department for Industry and Commerce of the people's Government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government shall remove it from the list of enterprises with serious violations.

Article 18 the local people's governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments shall establish and improve the credit constraint mechanism, take enterprise information as an important consideration in government procurement, project bidding, state-owned land transfer, and conferring honorary titles, and restrict or prohibit enterprises listed in the list of enterprises with abnormal operations or serious violations of laws according to law.

Article 19 Where a government department fails to perform its duties in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, the supervisory organ and the government department at the next higher level shall order it to make corrections; If the circumstances are serious, the person in charge who is responsible and other persons who are directly responsible shall be punished according to law; If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

Article 20 Anyone who illegally modifies the enterprise information publicized or illegally obtains the enterprise information shall be investigated for legal responsibility in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 21 If a citizen, legal person or other organization considers that a specific administrative act of a government department in the work of enterprise information publicity infringes upon its lawful rights and interests, it may apply for administrative reconsideration or file an administrative lawsuit according to law.

Article 22 If an enterprise publicizes information in accordance with these regulations, it shall not be exempted from its obligation to publicize information in accordance with other relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 23 the provisions of these Regulations on the publicity of enterprise information by government departments shall apply to the publicity of enterprise information by organizations authorized by laws and regulations with the function of managing public affairs.

Article 24 the administrative department for Industry and commerce under the State Council shall be responsible for formulating the technical specifications for the enterprise credit information publicity system.

The specific measures for information publicity of individual industrial and commercial households and farmers' professional cooperatives shall be formulated separately by the administrative department for Industry and commerce under the State Council.

Article 25 these Regulations shall come into force as of October 1, 2014.