Administrative Measures for Business Entity Registration Archives Formally Released

On February 17, 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) published the Administrative Measures for Business Entity Registration Archives (the “Measures”) on its website, which will take effect on March 20, 2025.

The Measures consist of 31 articles, covering the overall requirements for registration archive management, collection and preservation of archives, informatization of archives, transfer of archives, inquiry and utilization of archives, and legal responsibilities. The Measures refine the norms for registration archive management and specifies requirements for electronic registration archive management. The Measures set forth provisions regarding the scope of archiving, filing standards, storage requirements, management systems, and retention periods of registration archives. It is clarified that during the existence of a business entity, registration archives should be continuously preserved. After the cancellation of a business entity, the retention period for registration archives is generally 20 years. The registration authority should periodically assess the preservation value of expired registration archives to decide whether to destroy them or transfer them to the national comprehensive archives of the same level for permanent preservation.