Canton Fair Agent or Interpreter: Accompanying Staff Rules and When to Hire Help

An interpreter does not walk into the Canton Fair on your buyer badge. You apply for an accompanying badge for them, and the organiser reviews it. They cannot apply on their own.

Last fact-checked: 9 November 2026. The rules below are from the accompanying-personnel notice for overseas buyers of the 140th session. The release date on that page is 28 September 2026. The notice says applications opened on 28 September. It is a 140th document. The 141st session has not republished this page. Use it as the last published rule, and read the live Buyer Service System before you promise a colleague a badge.

Your own badge is a separate step, on the registration and badge guide.

Who applies, and how soon

Overseas buyers start the application on the official site. The organiser reviews it. Regular buyers can apply for accompanying staff directly. New buyers have to finish pre-registration at buyer.cantonfair.org.cn and submit the overseas buyer badge before they can submit the accompanying application.

Applications have to be in at least two days ahead. The notice's own example: attendance on 15 October means the application is in by 13 October. Count two days back from the morning your interpreter needs to be inside, not from the day you land.

Interpreter or assistant, and the cap

The notice splits accompanying staff into assistants and interpreters. An interpreter also has to submit proof of translation qualifications. The page names three kinds of proof: CATTI, NAETI, or a graduation certificate in a foreign-language major from a higher-education institution in the Chinese mainland.

Each buyer may apply for up to two accompanying people per phase, and at most one interpreter and one assistant. A second interpreter is not a loophole on this notice. A second phase is a new application, with its own cap.

Buyers from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan, and buyers who hold a Chinese passport, cannot apply for an interpreter badge. The notice says they can apply for an assistant badge only.

The fee the notice prints

The 28 September 2026 notice states a fee of RMB 300 per day plus an RMB 50 administrative fee. A used badge is not refunded. The notice says a badge counts as used once an entry gate has scanned it. A lost badge is RMB 200 to replace.

Those three figures are the 140th notice. They are not a quote for a freelance interpreter you hire outside the badge, and they are not a 141st price until the organiser repeats them. If the live system shows a different number, the system is the one you pay.

This badge is not a sourcing agent

An accompanying interpreter is in the hall to speak. The notice does not make them your buyer, your inspector, or the party on the contract. A sourcing agent is a company you hire to find factories, compare quotes, and follow the order after you fly home. That scope belongs in a contract, which is the subject of sourcing agent versus trading company. The agent's own entry is their badge problem, not a second interpreter slot on yours.

There is a third badge the overseas-buyer guide mentions in one line. Badges issued on a work visa at or before the 134th session are no longer valid, and those holders must apply for a Purchasing Agent Badge. That is a different application from the accompanying interpreter. Do not mix the names on the form.

A typical case

A buyer of hardware walks Phase 1, 15-19 April 2027, and wants one interpreter for three of those days. She already has her own overseas buyer badge. Twelve days out she asks the interpreter for a phone number, a resident identity card number, and one of the three qualifications the notice lists. She files at least two days before 15 April. She does not also file a second interpreter "just in case." The assistant slot stays empty because she is carrying her own notebook. Samples and the later LCL are not the interpreter's job. If she would rather not manage the form, a hosted walk is the buying trip, with the scope written down.

Ways the application is refused or wasted

The helper tries to apply alone. The notice says they cannot. The buyer has to start it.

You file an interpreter for a colleague who holds a Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan permit, or a Chinese passport, on your buying side. The notice blocks the interpreter type for those buyers. Assistant is the type it allows.

The relationship is not real. The notice says buyers and accompanying staff have to keep a genuine accompanying relationship. If they do not, the organiser can take both badges, make both people leave, and put them on a badge blacklist under the fair's violation measures. Confiscated badges are not refunded. "He is my interpreter" for someone who is working another company's booth is the fact pattern that section is written for.

Someone who already holds an exhibitor badge or an exhibitor-representative badge for that phase cannot also hold an accompanying badge for the same phase. Service-personnel badges for move-in and move-out, and people whose exhibitor badge was rejected, are blocked for the session. Read section VII of the notice if your helper also works for a stand.

Questions that decide whether you hire anyone

Do I need an interpreter if I have a sourcing agent?

Only if you are the one walking the halls and you need language there. The agent can do the search from outside under your contract. The accompanying badge is for a person beside you. Compare the two on the first-time plan before you pay both.

Can the interpreter collect my buyer badge?

The accompanying notice does not say that. Badge pickup rules are on the badge guide: original ID, business card, and the pre-registration QR code, at the office your ID type is allowed to use.

What if the 141st notice changes the fee?

Pay the figure in the live system. The RMB 300, RMB 50, and RMB 200 lines are the 28 September 2026 notice for the 140th session. Quote them with that date, not as a permanent tariff.

When you know whether you are walking alone or with help, send the product and the phase on an RFQ. Agent selection after the fair is a contract question, not a badge question. The service page for a hosted trip is China buying trip. A neutral checklist for choosing an agent sits on the sourcing agent page.

See also Canton Fair 2027 Dates, Phases and Which Products Each Phase Covers.

Sources

• Canton Fair: Badge application for accompanying personnel, 140th session. Release date on the page: 28 September 2026. Quota, qualifications, fees, and the two-day deadline.
• Canton Fair: Overseas buyer badge guide. Release date on the page: 26 September 2026. Work-visa badges from the 134th session and earlier, and the Purchasing Agent Badge line.
• Canton Fair Buyer Service System registration. The system the notice tells buyers to use.