On October 16, 2026, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement No. 48 of 2026, proposing to add 40 technologies in three fields—artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals and photovoltaics—to the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export in China, of which 23 concern artificial intelligence. The comment period runs until November 15.

The announcement contains two arrangements with different legal statuses. Which technologies are to be added, and which are to be classified as prohibited or restricted, remain in draft form for public comment; however, pre-export registration for the technologies listed in the annex to the announcement has been in effect since October 16 and will continue until the date the formally revised catalogue takes effect. Exports that have commenced but not yet been completed also fall within the scope of registration.

This distinction determines what enterprises should do now. At this stage, the 40 technologies cannot all be described as already prohibited or restricted from export, nor should enterprises wait until the formal catalogue is issued before conducting a review. For enterprises that are signing licence agreements, building overseas computing-power centres, migrating models to overseas subsidiaries, bringing in foreign investors or exporting photovoltaic production lines, interim registration has become a practical matter in closing and performance arrangements.

Technology export is not synonymous with "products leaving the territory"

The Regulations on the Administration of Technology Import and Export define technology export as the transfer of technology from within China to outside China through trade, investment or economic and technical cooperation, in forms including patent rights, patent application rights, patent exploitation licences, technical secrets, technical services and other technology transfers. The starting point for assessment is whether the technology is transferred across the border, not whether a tangible good leaves the territory through customs.

Announcement No. 48 lists four circumstances for interim registration: transferring ownership of technology to outside China; authorising the use of domestic technology outside China; a change in the owner or actual controller of domestic technology to an overseas entity; and other circumstances in which the Ministry of Commerce expressly requires registration by notice or other means. The registration content includes the exporter, the recipient, the destination country or region, the technology and its use, and the estimated export amount.

Accordingly, intra-group arrangements cannot be automatically excluded either. Where a domestic parent company licenses a model, patent or process to an overseas wholly-owned subsidiary, a transfer of technology from within China to outside China still occurs between legal entities. Where a capital increase, equity sale or restructuring causes the owner or actual controller of domestic technology to become an overseas entity, this may also directly trigger interim registration, irrespective of whether the transaction documents separately list a "technology transfer price".

AI going global requires distinguishing deployment, invocation and open source

In a question-and-answer session with journalists, the Ministry of Commerce set out the boundaries for several common AI going-global models. Once the proposed measures are formally implemented, localised deployment overseas of restricted large models falls within the scope of technology export administration; where deployment occurs in scenarios with relatively controllable risk, such as an enterprise's own overseas cloud, facilitation measures such as automatic licensing may apply. Using restricted large models to provide API invocation, APP or web interaction, SaaS applications and lightweight local on-device deployment to outside China does not fall within the scope of large-model technology export administration.

This statement cannot be simplified to "cloud services are all exempt from administration". Enterprises still need to verify whether model weights, training methods, source code, agent frameworks or computing-power scheduling solutions are also provided. Where a transaction is called an API but the customer actually obtains a technology package that can be copied or independently deployed, the name of the contract cannot change the fact of technology delivery.

The announcement also proposes that relevant technologies that have entered the public domain through open source or the publication of academic papers are not to be included in the scope of administration; and that circumstances such as open-sourcing artificial intelligence technology, enterprises building and operating their own computing-power centres overseas, overseas chip tape-out, joint research and development using overseas resources, and participation in international standard-setting are proposed to be eligible for facilitation measures such as automatic licensing.

Enterprises should still retain the public content, publication time and open-source licences, and distinguish the parts that have entered the public domain from the weights, parameters and data processing methods still delivered with the transaction.

Provisional registration and formal licensing must not be conflated

Under the current regime, technology is classified into prohibited, restricted and freely exportable categories. Prohibited technologies may not be exported; restricted technologies are subject to licence administration; freely exportable technologies are generally subject to registration of technology export contracts. Restricted items may also involve letters of intent for licensing, technology and trade review, and lists of contracts and technical materials, and subsequent customs, financial and insurance arrangements will also need to align with the licence documents.

The pre-export registration under Announcement No. 48 is a provisional information-management measure pending formal revision of the catalogue. Completion of registration does not amount to obtaining a future licence for the export of restricted technology, nor does it amount to the competent authority having confirmed that a given technology may be exported. Conversely, the fact that the proposed catalogue has not yet taken effect does not mean that the items listed in the annex may skip the current registration.

Enterprises should establish two decision points internally: at present, first determine whether the annex covers the project and when provisional registration is required; after the catalogue formally takes effect, then determine whether the project falls within the prohibited, restricted or freely exportable category, whether automatic licensing applies, and whether the contract, delivery and payment terms need to be adjusted.

Risks in investment transactions often arise when control changes

This announcement expressly lists "a change of the owner or actual controller of domestic technology to an overseas entity" as a registration scenario, bringing technology export review directly into M&A and financing transactions.

When a domestic AI, biopharmaceutical or photovoltaic enterprise introduces an overseas investor, the transaction may change the technology control relationship even if the servers, laboratories and factories all remain in China. Enterprises need to assess whether the actual controller has changed by reference to equity percentages, voting rights, board seats, contractual control, ownership of intellectual property and authority over business decisions. The fact that technology is attached to a company does not mean that an equity transfer requires only foreign investment, antitrust or company registration review.

Transaction documents may set technology-export-specific conditions precedent: completion of a comparison between the technology list and the annex; confirmation of whether registration or licensing is required; and no delivery of weights, source code, process packages or key equipment before the formalities are completed. Representations and warranties should also cover historical licences, group authorisations and overseas R&D access rights.

For overseas joint ventures and overseas plant construction, intellectual property and funding should be designed in tandem. If a domestic company contributes technology as capital, the technology valuation will feed into registration, tax and foreign exchange materials; if it switches to licence fees or technical service fees, the payment and tax treatment will also change. Project teams must not first fix the funding path and then treat the technology formalities as a separate filing to be completed afterwards.

Exports of photovoltaic equipment may also carry controlled technology

What is special about photovoltaic technology is that the technology is often exported together with production-line equipment, installation, commissioning, modification and upgrades. The Ministry of Commerce has explained that the proposed scope includes key and core equipment carrying the relevant technology; the announcement further requires that exports of photovoltaic key and core equipment falling within the scope of administration all be registered in accordance with the rules.

This will change the method of reviewing equipment contracts. Enterprises cannot judge solely by customs commodity codes; they must also break down the equipment itself, control software, process parameters, drawings, commissioning rights, remote operation and maintenance, and capacity indicators. What is sold is equipment, but what the overseas customer actually obtains may be a replicable manufacturing capability. What the general contractor, equipment supplier, design institute and technology licensor each deliver should be clearly matched in the contract and the list of technical materials.

When banks process advance payments, letters of credit, guarantees or cross-border technology fees, they may also require the parties to explain the nature of the technology and its registration and licensing status. If equipment is shipped first and the technology license is completed later, inconsistencies may arise among the flow of goods, the flow of funds and the flow of technology, increasing the risk of payment delays, return shipments and breach disputes.

Six tasks enterprises can undertake now

First, establish a project inventory covering intellectual property transfers, intra-group licensing, overseas deployment, joint ventures and cooperation, equity financing and photovoltaic production line exports, rather than screening only contracts with "technology transfer" in their names.

Second, break down the proposed deliverables to a granularity that permits assessment, including model weights, training methods, source code, data processing, chip tape-out materials, equipment parameters, process packages and personnel services, and then compare them item by item against the annexes to the announcement.

Third, mark project status. Projects that have been signed, have begun deployment or delivery but are not yet complete must also be included in the interim registration assessment.

Fourth, verify the entities and control. Record the technology owner, the actual controller, the overseas recipient, the end user and the place of use, and avoid merging entities within a group into a vague "business department".

Fifth, revise contracts and closing checklists. Add conditions precedent relating to regulatory procedures, phased delivery, restrictions on use and regulatory change clauses, so that payment milestones correspond to registration or licensing outcomes.

Sixth, preserve complete evidence. At a minimum, retain technology comparison explanations, versions and hashes, dates of publication or open-sourcing, board decisions, registration receipts, licensing documents, delivery logs, access permissions and payment and receipt vouchers. In the event of a dispute, what must be proven is not only "what was delivered", but also when, to whom and under which legal status it was delivered.

Differences from the existing AI articles on the website

The article on the website dated 16 October analyses authorization, accountability and logs after Hong Kong banks use agentic AI. This article addresses registration, licensing and transaction conditions when Chinese technology is transferred overseas, focusing on model deployment, technology licensing, control in mergers and acquisitions, and equipment exports. The applicable rules, responsible entities and client decisions in the two articles differ.

Conclusion

The proposed catalogue is still open for comment, yet interim registration already covers projects in progress. What enterprises tend to overlook is not obvious patent sales, but licensing to overseas subsidiaries, overseas localized deployment, changes in control and process capabilities embodied in equipment. Only by placing technology, contracts, funds, equipment and personnel on a single project map can an enterprise determine what needs to be registered, what licenses will need to be applied for in the future, and how the various materials should be kept consistent.

Principal References

  1. Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology, Announcement No. 48 of 2026 of the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology — Public Consultation on the Revision of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export in China and Interim Registration Administration of Relevant Technology Exports, October 16, 2026:Official announcement。
  2. Information Office of the Ministry of Commerce, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce Answers Questions from Reporters on the Revision of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export in China, October 16, 2026:Official Q&A with reporters。
  3. State Council, Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of Technology Import and Export (revised in 2019):Ministry of Commerce regulations page。
  4. Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology, Measures for the Administration of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export, promulgated on April 20, 2009:Official text。
  5. Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology, Announcement on the Adjusted Release of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export in China, July 15, 2025:Official page。

The information in this article was verified as of October 18, 2026. This article is provided solely for general information sharing and does not constitute legal, export control, intellectual property, foreign exchange, tax, investment or transactional advice on any specific matter. The catalogue revisions in Announcement No. 48 remain at the public consultation stage, and interim registration, formal classification and facilitation measures should be assessed in light of the official annexes, specific technical parameters, transaction structures and the rules in force at the relevant time.