China is to establish a system to publicize the credit
information of export businesses on the Internet so government
bodies can better manage foreign trade.
The Ministry of Commerce yesterday said on its website that it
will establish a foreign trade credit system in more than 10
provinces and municipalities including Beijing, Shanghai and
Jiangsu. Through the system, the government will put the credit
history and operational information of companies doing business
overseas on the Internet.
Government supervision bodies and foreign companies will be able
to retrieve the information through a website, the commerce
ministry said on its website yesterday. This is part of the
government's effort to build a system to make the credit
information of all enterprises transparent.
The government first ran a trial credit system in Shenzhen three
years ago. The city government has since put the information of
nearly 10,000 enterprises on a website. Business partners can check
the credit, tax and legal records of any of these companies
online.
This is a good move for China's foreign trade, said Wang
Shengli, a credit administrator under the Ministry of Commerce.
"Chinese enterprises need good credit to win in global trade, and
this is also good for their trade partners in other countries,"
Wang said.
Many Chinese companies do not fully understand the significance
of credit and they do not pay enough attention to credit management
within their companies, according to Han Jiaping, a credit
management expert.
Paying more attention to credit will help Chinese enterprises'
trade partners and is also good for domestic companies themselves
because it helps them avoid risk, he said. But there is currently a
lack of credit management personnel in China, Han said.
The credit system is part of the commerce ministry's effort to
build a broader information system in the business field, Wang
said.
The system will include information on companies doing business
within China, as well as investment and other information. The
Ministry of Commerce is to share with other government bodies,
including Customs and tax, to supervise enterprises together. "This
will make it more convenient for those who obey the regulation,
while those who do not will get punishment," Wang said.
Vice-Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng said earlier that through
a ministry blacklist system the government has punished over 400
export enterprises that have broken rules or behaved illegally.
(China Daily December 18, 2007)
