CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Yaxing Zhang, Bing San, Yi Cao and Jiahui Zhu, Han Kun Law Offices
Han Kun Law Offices 9/F Office Tower C1 Oriental Plaza 1 East Chang An Avenue Dongcheng District Beijing 100738 People’s Republic of China Tel: +86 10 8525 5500 Fax: +86 10 8525 5511/5522 Email: beijing@hankunlaw.com Web: www.hankunlaw.com
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position Methods for Investigating Asset Clues Through Public Channels In China, a party may adopt the following approaches to investigate the counterparty’s assets through public channels. • Utilise corporate and credit information platforms (eg, National Enterprise Credit Information Pub - licity System, Qichacha, Tianyancha) to identify another party’s public information regarding equity investments and equity freeze status, real estate holdings, IP registrations and basic bank account information. • Appoint a licensed attorney to retrieve vehicle registration records from the traffic management bureau and business registration files from the market regulation administration to identify assets clues such as motor vehicles and equity holdings. • Acquire information on outstanding debts and accounts receivable by reviewing listed companies’ public announcements and annual reports. • Monitor judicially seized or auctioned assets through China Judgments Online website and judicial auction websites and promptly apply for participation in asset distribution. • Comprehensively review transaction documents and bank statements to obtain bank account details and real estate records.
Methods for Investigating Asset Clues with Court- Issued Attorney Investigation Orders In addition, one party may appoint a licensed lawyer to investigate the following assets of another party with a court-issued attorney investigation order: • real estate ownership and transaction history at the real estate registration centre; • account details and transaction records from Alipay and WeChat Pay at the judicial assistance centres of Alipay and Tencent; and • other asset clues obtained from relevant organisa - tions or government agencies. Methods for Investigating Asset Clues Through the Online Enforcement Enquiry and Control System In 2014, the Supreme People’s Court of China (SPC) established the Online Enforcement Enquiry and Con - trol System (the “System”), a pioneering judicial mech - anism featuring a dual-level architecture. The System is primarily composed of the SPC’s centralised “hub- to-hub” platform, supplemented by decentralised “point-to-point” systems operated by provincial high courts. After years of development, this integrated system is now interconnected with 16 central govern - ment agencies, including the Ministry of Public Secu - rity and Ministry of Natural Resources, as well as over 3,900 banking institutions. The System enables courts to conduct comprehensive queries across 25 specific data fields within 16 major asset categories, including but not limited to bank deposits, real estate proper - ties, motor vehicles, insurance, securities holdings, financial investment products, vessels and digital pay -
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