Can a foreigner set up a trading company in 
China, and where are the official registers for freight and customs firms? in detail
Answer
A foreign individual can invest in and set up a company in China: Article 2 of the Foreign Investment Law counts "foreign natural persons, enterprises or other organisations" as foreign investors, and Article 4 applies pre-entry national treatment plus a negative list. The latest negative list we could confirm is the 2024 edition (Order No. 23 of the NDRC and MOFCOM, issued 8 Sep 2024, in force 1 Nov 2024, 29 items). The official explainer we read does not mention wholesale, retail or trading. After you register, you still need separate steps to import or export, and the official lookups for logistics firms sit with four different agencies that do not replace one another: express licences (State Post Bureau), NVOCC filings (Ministry of Transport), customs declaring enterprises (General Administration of Customs) and international freight forwarder filings (MOFCOM, still in force).
- Applies to
- Overseas buyers (for example from Brazil) who think of setting up a trading company in China, and want to check freight or customs firms in official registers.
Dear friend,
Welcome! This letter sets out what you need to know, plainly and in order.
Setting up a company
| Item | What the official text says | Number and date | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can a foreign individual invest? | Article 2: "本法所称外商投资，是指外国的自然人、企业或者其他组织（以下称外国投资者）直接或者间接在中国境内进行的投资活动" (foreign investment means investment in China by foreign natural persons, enterprises or other organisations, directly or indirectly). The law lists four forms, including setting up a foreign-invested enterprise and buying shares in a Chinese company | Foreign Investment Law, adopted 15 Mar 2019, in force 1 Jan 2020 | |
| Market access rule | Article 4: "国家对外商投资实行准入前国民待遇加负面清单管理制度" (pre-entry national treatment plus negative list). Outside the list, foreign and domestic investors are treated alike | Same | Same |
| Implementing rules | Regulations for the Implementation of the Foreign Investment Law, State Council Order No. 723. we confirmed the document exists; we did not read its articles | Order No. 723 | |
| Current negative list | 外商投资准入特别管理措施（负面清单）（2024年版）. Issued by the NDRC and MOFCOM, Order No. 23, 8 Sep 2024, in force 1 Nov 2024. Restrictions cut from 31 to 29 items; manufacturing restrictions all removed. The official explainer does not mention wholesale, retail or trading | Order No. 23, 2024-09-08 | |
| Where to register | Market regulation authorities handle registration. Shenzhen Qianhai publishes a page on setting up a foreign-invested enterprise. SAMR issued a notice on registering such firms under the Foreign Investment Law (copy on a provincial site) | SAMR notice about Jan 2020; number not read | |
| Foreign exchange registration and bank | Circular on simplifying direct-investment FX rules: it cancels the approval for domestic direct-investment FX registration. "已经取得外汇局金融机构标识码且在所在地外汇局开通资本项目信息系统的银行可直接……办理直接投资外汇登记" (banks with a SAFE institution code and access to SAFE's capital account system can handle direct-investment FX registration directly). So the bank does this registration | Huifa [2015] No. 13, signed 13 Feb 2015, in force 1 Jun 2015 |
Before you can import or export
- A new company cannot trade abroad just by being registered. Filing as a customs declaring unit is a separate step. Measures of the Customs on the Filing of Declaring Units (GAC Order No. 253, published 19 Nov 2021, in force 1 Jan 2022), Article 2: "报关单位，是指按照本规定在海关备案的进出口货物收发货人、报关企业" (declaring units are consignees/consignors and customs brokers that file with Customs). Article 7: customs must file the unit within 3 working days if the materials are complete, and "备案信息应当通过‘中国海关企业进出口信用信息公示平台’进行公布" (filing data is published on the customs credit disclosure platform). Article 9: changes to name, entity type, address, legal representative and similar must be reported within 30 days. Text:
gov.cn.
- Foreign exchange: registration goes through the bank under Huifa [2015] No. 13. we did not check whether a newer rule replaced it.
- Some goods need permits from other agencies.
- If you only want to buy a few shipments, you may not need a Chinese company at all. See verify-china-supplier and cn-cbec-pilot-zones.
Official registers
The four registers cover different roles and do not replace one another. Under one brand, the filing or licence is often held by different legal entities (port-city subsidiaries, branches), so ask which entity signs the contract and at which port it declares. None of the lookups offers bulk export; you search firm by firm.
| Type | Entry point | Fields you can expect | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express business licence (incl. international) | State Post Bureau portal, licence and annual report lookup: | Search by licence number, company name, company address, licence type (intra-province, cross-province, international) and captcha. Result columns: licence number and company name. Extra tabs: branch filings, outlet filings, cancelled licences. Filter by 31 provincial regions. No phone, email or office address in the list | The lookup page carries no publication date (checked 27 Oct 2026). Captcha, no bulk export. Basis: Interim Regulations on Express Delivery, Art. 18: postal authorities must "向社会公布取得快递业务经营许可的企业名单，并及时更新" (publish and keep updated the list of licensed firms) ( |
| NVOCC (non-vessel carrier) filing | Ministry of Transport waterway transport information system: | The Shanghai xls has 7,392 rows with three columns: serial number, Chinese name, English name. No filing number, address or phone. Search conditions and result fields inside the ministry system: not verified | NVOCC moved from approval to filing. Shanghai page (17 Feb 2025): "根据《中华人民共和国国际海运条例》、《国务院关于取消和下放一批行政许可事项的决定》（国发〔2019〕6号）、《关于国际船舶运输及内地与港澳海上运输业务相关审批、备案事项的通知》（交办水函〔2019〕681号）等相关规定，我委通过交通运输部‘水路运输建设综合管理信息系统’，对下述注册于本市或在本市口岸开展业务的无船承运业务经营企业办理了备案手续，现按规定予以公示。" The ministry also hosts a |
| Customs declaring enterprises | China Customs enterprise import-export credit information disclosure platform: | Per a customs-system explainer reposted by a Haikou government site (3 Nov 2025): enter the company name or unified social credit code plus captcha to see the unit's disclosed data; the name accepts fuzzy keywords. You can see filing information, credit rating, special qualifications and penalties. Column headings of the list page, per a search snapshot: credit code, name, qualification type, customs office, credit rating; not verified on the page | Legal basis: GAC Order No. 253, Art. 7 (above). Captcha required. Customs sites returned HTTP 412 blocks to the IP used for our checks, so the platform pages themselves were not verified |
| International freight forwarder filing (MOFCOM) | Filing side: MOFCOM unified platform, enterprise login | Item page: type "filing", for international freight forwarders and branches, no fee; "备案后可通过‘国际货运代理企业信息管理系统’网站中的‘企业信息查询’栏目查询备案结果" (results can be checked in the "enterprise information query" section). Process: register the company, fill in online, provincial or planned-city commerce authority reviews and issues a filing certificate. Publicly searchable fields: not found | The filing is still in force; not cancelled. We found no order or notice cancelling it. The rule is the Measures on Filing of International Freight Forwarders (Trial), MOFCOM Order 2005 No. 9, amended by MOFCOM Order 2016 No. 2 on 18 Aug 2016 ( |
What to do yourself
- Check the owner's status: foreign individuals and foreign companies are both "foreign investors". Check your planned business against the current negative list text.
- File for company registration with the market regulation authority, using the local guide.
- After registration, register foreign exchange through a bank, and do the customs registration needed for trade.
- When you hire a logistics or customs firm, check its licence or filing in the official entry points above. Do not rely on what a seller says. Use the express licence for express, the NVOCC filing for consolidated sea freight, the customs declaring enterprise record if the firm declares for you, and the MOFCOM filing for forwarders; and ask which legal entity signs and at which port it declares.
When to use a licensed professional
- When foreign documents need notarisation, legalisation or translation, or a power of attorney.
- When your business may touch the negative list or need an industry licence.
- For cross-border payments, tax set-up, and your first formal customs declaration.
Still uncertain
- Negative list: we read the NDRC explainer, not the list itself. "Trading is outside the list" is not checked item by item. we did not check whether a newer edition came after 2024.
- The Implementation Regulations: we confirmed the number only, not the articles.
- Company registration pages: the Shenzhen and SAMR links are search results we did not open. we found no Shanghai one-stop page for foreign-invested company registration.
- Whether a rule replaced Huifa [2015] No. 13: not checked.
- Actual column headings and filters of the customs "declaring enterprise list" page: customs sites returned HTTP 412 blocks during our checks, so we only have a search snapshot and a third-party reposted explainer, not the platform page.
- A public "enterprise information query" page for MOFCOM freight forwarder filing: the item page says one exists, but the old domain is now a login portal; no public search entry or fields found.
- Search results inside the ministry's "NVOCC filing information" menu: it needs a login or script route and we could not enter it; only the three columns of the Shanghai xls are confirmed. The PDF attached to the Guangxi list was not parsed. Whether the ministry 2015 list page we previously cited (dated 6 Mar 2015) is the same file as the terminated-operators xls (24 Apr 2015) is not checked.
- The express licence lookup page has no publication date; the list has no phone or address.
- The MOFCOM freight forwarder item page has no publication date.
This page is general information from Chinese government websites, not an official answer.
Sources for this letter
MOFCOM copy
NDRC explainer
Shenzhen Qianhai guide
SAMR notice, Xinjiang copy
SAFE Shenzhen branch
zwfw.spb.gov.cn/gjj/xkqy
express firm list
MOJ regulations database
Guangdong 2026 No. 6, page dated 30 Jul 2026
Chongqing 2026 No. 12, 23 Jul 2026
mwtis.mot.gov.cn/syportal/login
disclosure page
page
list of terminated NVOCC operators
credit.customs.gov.cn
customs explainer
customs service portal
ecomp.mofcom.gov.cn/loginCorp.html
MOFCOM "international freight forwarder information management"
text
Wishing you good business,
The mouwise team
Checked 2026-10-27
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