What we don’t do
Consultancies usually publish what they sell. This page publishes the opposite, because in cross-border work the more useful question is where somebody stops. Everything below is refused — the first group because we are not licensed for it, the second absolutely, the third on principle.
Work reserved to licensed firms
Chinese law reserves these to holders of specific licences. We hold none of them, we do not do the work, and we will introduce someone who does — you contract with them directly.
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Legal advice, contract drafting, opinions on enforceability, litigation or arbitration representation
Reserved under the PRC Lawyers Law. We are a consultancy and hold no law-firm licence.
Who does it instead: A PRC-qualified lawyer, or qualified counsel in your own jurisdiction
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Bookkeeping, tax filing, tax agency and audit
Bookkeeping agency requires a finance-bureau licence we do not hold.
Who does it instead: A licensed accounting or bookkeeping firm (代理记账许可证), or an accounting firm for audit
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Filing trademarks or patents in our own name, or acting as your agent of record
Trademark agency requires CNIPA registration. We do class strategy and read the clearance search; the agency files.
Who does it instead: A trademark agency registered with CNIPA
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Recruitment, headhunting, labour dispatch, employer-of-record and payroll
Job placement and dispatch each require their own licence.
Who does it instead: A holder of a Human Resources Service Licence or Labour Dispatch Licence
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Accredited inspection, testing and certification against a standard
We are not accredited and will not imply that our reports are certification.
Who does it instead: An accredited inspection or certification body
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Customs classification, valuation, ruling requests, protests and refund claims
These are regulated determinations with real liability attached.
Who does it instead: A licensed customs broker or trade counsel in the destination market
Immigration and exit–entry, in any form
This is absolute and it covers advice as well as filing. It applies to China and to every other country, and it applies even where a client offers to pay for a conversation rather than a service.
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Visas, residence permits, work permits and stay permits — for China or anywhere else
Exit–entry intermediary services are subject to a filing regime we have deliberately chosen not to enter.
Who does it instead: The relevant government authority, or a licensed adviser in that country
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Immigration, emigration, study abroad and overseas employment placement
Same regime, plus overseas employment placement requires its own PRC qualification.
Who does it instead: A licensed adviser in the destination country
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Paid consultation on any of the above
Charging for policy consultation on exit–entry matters falls inside the same regime. If you ask, we will send you an official link and stop there.
Things we are asked for that we will never do
These are refused on principle, not on licensing. They come up regularly, and the answer does not change with the size of the engagement.
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Helping to disguise the country of origin of goods, or restructuring shipments to obscure where they were made
Origin misdeclaration is fraud, and the liability lands on the importer of record — usually you. We will verify what a factory genuinely does so a real transformation can be evidenced properly, and that is the whole of what we will do.
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Writing, obtaining or improving a document that is not true — invitation letters, capability statements, certificates, qualifications, references
A single fabricated document destroys the value of everything else we have ever written.
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Covert investigation, pretext enquiries, undisclosed recording, database scraping or purchased personal data
Unlawful, and it produces a file you cannot show to the person who asked for it.
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Describing a trading company as a manufacturer, or reporting a production line we did not stand on
The entire product is that our reports are accurate about what we saw.
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Taking commission from a supplier, distributor or provider we introduce
We are paid by the client alone. Any referral fee offered to us is disclosed to you in writing before you decide anything.
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Taking title to goods, buying on your behalf, advancing payment to a supplier, or handling your money
We are a services company with no import/export rights, and holding client funds would change what we are.
Who does it instead: You contract and pay the supplier directly
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Acting as your importer of record, or as an EU Responsible Person
Both require establishment and the assumption of legal liability in the destination market. We have neither.
Who does it instead: A provider established in that market
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Guaranteeing a registry outcome, a platform approval, a search ranking or a supplier’s future performance
Nobody can, and anyone who says otherwise is telling you something useful about themselves.
Why we publish this
Three reasons, and only one of them is legal. It keeps us honest when commercial pressure makes a boundary inconvenient. It saves you a call if what you need is something we cannot supply. And it tells you something about how we will behave on the things we do take on — a firm that writes its refusals down in public is a firm that expects to be held to them.
If you need something on this list, ask anyway. We would rather introduce you to the right person than have you find someone who says yes to everything.
Ask us who to talk toNeed something we do do?
Supplier verification, sourcing, market entry, cross-border documents and digital work — all scoped and priced in writing before anything starts.
