When a dispute arises which you are unable to overcome by friendly negotiation, you may want to go through litigation to resolve the issue. When you stand in front of the case filing chamber of a court to file a lawsuit against an entity or an individual, the most important thing you need to have may not be a statement of your claims but the certified identification of the defendant. Claims are allowed to be amended during later proceedings, but if you do not have the correct and accurate name, domicile and other contact information of the one you are suing, the court would not accept to hear your case at all.
China Civil Procedure Law prescribes that one of the conditions to institute an action must be the existence of a specific defendant, which usually in practice means the plaintiff should at least hold a copy of the business registration record of an entity defendant or have the ID card or Hukou registration information of an individual defendant. This will allow the court to successfully send out your complaint, evidence, court summons and other legal documents to the defendant. However, often during interactions with those you interact with in the course of business, you may not have access to their identification documents. You will have to find these documents on your own.
The Administration of Industry and Commerce is the competent authority for supervising the registration information of the business entities, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs reserves the right to preserve the registration records of social organizations, and the local Public Security Bureau is the right organ to manage individuals’ ID card and Hukou registrations. However, as identity information is private, each of these bodies will only allow the person him/herself or the entity itself to check its own registration information. You, as a plaintiff, without any valid judgment or verdict, may not be able to get anything out of these official systems during the case filing period. This would trap you in a tight spot and increase your difficulties in filing the case.
In this situation, you will need to engage a China lawyer, as the lawyers in China are afforded with the legitimate power to check the identification information for their clients. Laws and regulations confer the rights on China Lawyers to check relevant identity information of a defendant by submitting the lawyers qualifications, and a letter of statement to the competent authorities. This will be the most efficient way to help you get the information you need to file a China lawsuit.