Buyer questionAnswered from the China side
A red stamp arrived on your contract. What does it actually prove?
Start with the company named on your contract and the person signing it. Compare the full Chinese name on the seal with a dated registration record, then ask for signing authority. A name match does not authenticate the seal or settle whether the contract binds the company.
COMPANY CHOP / 01
The chop is treated as a password, and it is not one.
Keep three questions separate: which company is named, who can sign for it, and how the seal can be checked. No single name or image check answers all three.
Optional: what a company-code checksum can detect
| Error injected | USCI (18-character) | VIN (17-character) |
|---|---|---|
| Single-character substitution (1,080,000 trials) | 100% caught | 92.5% |
| Swap between data positions | 100% caught | 86.8% |
This fixed-seed experiment tests typing errors, not seal authenticity. A copied valid company code will still pass its checksum. Check a code and read the method.
What a company chop is
A company chop is a seal used on company documents. A contract may carry the official company seal (公章) or a contract seal (合同专用章). Ask who controls the seal and who approved its use on your contract.
Companies also use financial and invoice seals. If the seal type does not fit the document, ask for an explanation and proof of authority. Its appearance alone does not tell you who applied it or whether the company approved the contract.
A legal representative’s personal name seal is a separate instrument. You can compare that person’s name with the registration record. What the registration record carries, field by field.
Ask about local verification channels
Local rules and access vary. For example, Zhejiang’s published seal-management rules require public information query services in Article 13. That does not establish a nationwide service or prove that a particular seal image is available to you. Ask which local channel applies to your supplier; we have not tested its access for your case.
We do not authenticate a chop from a photograph or PDF. We can compare the visible company name with a registration record. A matching name can still appear on an unauthorised or copied stamp.
For an electronic seal, ask for the original signed file and its validation method. A pasted stamp image does not show certificate or document-integrity checks. Our registration check does not validate electronic signatures.
What Chinese courts actually look at
The Supreme People’s Court’s 2023 contract interpretation, Article 22, addresses seal disputes and signing authority. Where the person acted within their authority, the company cannot avoid the contract solely because the seal was unfiled or forged. This is not a rule that every stamped document binds the company.
Two consequences follow for a buyer:
A genuine seal is not automatically enough. Where the person who applied it had no authority to bind the company, the company can and does contest the contract. The seal being real is not the end of that argument.
A missing seal is not automatically fatal. A contract signed by the legal representative, or by someone with authority, can bind the company without a seal on it.
Ask who signed and in what role. A registration record names the legal representative; other signers may need separate proof of authority. Ask a qualified lawyer about disputed authority, including apparent authority. Where this sits in the wider pre-order sequence.
This is a description of published guidance, not legal advice, and it is not a prediction of how any particular dispute would be decided. If a contract matters enough to litigate, it matters enough to have a China-qualified lawyer look at it before signature.
Check the name and signing authority
The characters on a company seal are the company’s full registered Chinese name. Compare that name with a dated registration record:
Read the Chinese characters on the impression. Not the English name on the letterhead, and not the trading name on the platform storefront, the Chinese characters in the ring of the seal.
Compare them to the registered name on the public record, retrieved by the 18-character unified social credit code rather than by name. A valid code identifies a record; someone can still copy it onto a false document. What the code is and how to read it.
Treat a mismatch as a question, not a verdict. A group may use several entities, but that does not explain your document by itself. Ask which entity is contracting and who authorised the signature. Resolve the difference in writing before money moves.
Check the name against the former names too. Companies rename. In our census of 264 state-recognised manufacturers, 53.4% had changed their registered name at least once and 22.7% twice or more. A former name may explain the text. It does not establish that an old seal remains valid; request current documents and signing authority. The change-history census.
What we do not do
We do not authenticate seals. We cannot, and we will not imply otherwise by returning a confident-looking assessment of an image. Our service does not check a seal against an official specimen.
We do not carry out forensic document examination, and we do not compare an impression against a specimen to give an opinion on whether it was made by the same seal.
We do not give legal advice and do not opine on whether a contract is binding, enforceable, or properly executed.
What we do is the name comparison described above, from the public registration record: registered name, former names, unified social credit code, status and legal representative. We report each field with its source and the date the record was read.
Not legal advice. A registration record does not establish whether your contract is enforceable.
PRIMARY SOURCES / 02
Official sources for this page
The official publications below were consulted on 6 September 2026. Local portal access was not tested. Ask a qualified adviser about the rules that apply to your contract.
- Supreme People’s Court: 2023 contract interpretationArticle 22 addresses signing authority and disputed seals.
- Ministry of Justice: Zhejiang seal-management rules, 2017 amended textArticle 13 includes public information query services. This regional text does not prove nationwide access or current access to a particular specimen.
- Supreme People’s Court: 2019 Civil and Commercial Trial Conference Minutes (法〔2019〕254号)Article 41 provides earlier background on seals and signing authority. The page also cites the 2023 interpretation above.
- State Council: Provisions on the Administration of Seals (国发〔1999〕25号)Historical national provisions on seal administration. Check their scope and the applicable local rules; they do not establish that all seal information is closed to the public.
- National People’s Congress: Electronic Signature Law (2019 revision)Article 14 concerns reliable electronic signatures. A pasted image does not by itself establish reliability.
These are the legal texts the page relies on, in the original Chinese, cited so that each statement can be checked at its source. Reading them is general information. How they apply to a specific contract is a question for a lawyer qualified in Chinese law.
How we checked
Check-digit behaviour was verified by running the GB 32100 algorithm in this browser tool on real codes and on codes with a single typed error. The most recent query date on this page is 9 August 2026. Where a table carries its own date, that date governs.
The official pages we read are listed on this page with the date each was accessed, so every figure can be re-checked at source.
Being pushed to pay a deposit right now? The checks that matter before money moves are free to read.
If you want these records pulled for your own supplier: the “Just check who they are” selection of the report menu covers them, with packs from $26.55. Delivery follows the window on your order confirmation.