On October 16, 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement No. 48 of 2026, proposing to revise the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export. The draft adds 40 technologies in three fields: 23 in AI (covering large models, agents, computing clusters and information processing), 5 in biomedicine and 12 in solar photovoltaics. Public comments are open from October 16 to November 15, 2026.
A MOFCOM spokesperson’s Q and A the same day said 14 of the 40 would be prohibited from export and 26 restricted. Examples given on the AI side were AI-driven malicious code generation and mutation (prohibited) and AI-assisted vulnerability discovery (restricted). Technologies already in the public domain through open-source release or published papers are excluded. Open-sourcing, Chinese firms’ own overseas computing centers, overseas chip tape-out and joint research would get automatic licensing, which the ministry described as near “report and go”.
The announcement takes partial effect at once. From the publication date until the revised catalogue takes effect, exporters must register on MOFCOM’s platform before exporting any listed technology, including exports already under way but not completed. Registration covers transfers of technology ownership abroad, licensing for overseas use, and changes that make a foreign entity the owner or controller. The spokesperson said local deployment of a restricted model overseas counts as a technology export, while offering a restricted model through an API, app, website, SaaS or lightweight on-device deployment does not.
Why it matters: China has added frontier AI models and agents to its technology export regime, mirroring the controls the United States has placed on AI chips. The rules draw the line at transferring the model itself rather than selling access to it, and protect open-source release.
What it does not show: the technical thresholds for which models are covered sit in an annex this entry did not read, and the catalogue is a draft that may change after the comment period. The ministry says most AI technology will remain freely exportable.