The State Council set up a unified social credit code system for legal entities and other organizations, to enhance effective management and information sharing, according to an overall plan issued on June 17.

Currently, the codes for organizations are made up of various items, including industrial and commercial registration number, the institutional credit code and identification number of the taxpayer, which has led to a lack of effectiveness in management especially concerning the sharing of information.

Also, entities and other organizations have to apply and pay for several codes when they are dealing with the registration procedures.

The newly designed 18-digit unified code, composed of numerals and letters from the English alphabet, identify registration departments, type of organization, the administrative district of the registration authorities as well as the organization and checking code, according to the plan.

Newly established entities and other organizations will be given the unified code as soon as the system is put into place and existing code will be renewed as appropriate.

The system will be implemented by stages in different areas, according to the plan.

Industrial and commercial departments are supposed to put it into place by Oct 1 this year, while other registration departments are required to implement it by the end of the year.