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Latest / Frontier models and safety

Rule changeFrontierComputeDefenceChinaConfirmed

China proposes export controls on 23 AI technologies and starts pre-export registration

See how this story connects

Source: Ministry of Commerce of ChinaAlso reported by MOFCOM spokesperson Q&A, South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post (economy)

China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement No. 48 of 2026 on 16 October, opening consultation until 15 November on adding 40 technologies to the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export: 23 in AI (large models, agents, computing clusters and information processing), 5 in biomedicine and 12 in photovoltaics. Of the 40, 14 would be prohibited, including AI-driven malicious code generation and mutation, and 26 restricted, including AI-assisted vulnerability discovery. Technology already public through open source or published papers is excluded. From 16 October until the revised catalogue takes effect, exporters must register listed technology transfers in advance on the ministry’s platform. The ministry’s spokesperson said that providing a restricted model through an API, an app, SaaS or a lightweight on-device deployment is not a technology export, while deploying it locally abroad is, with automatic licensing for deployment on a company’s own overseas cloud.

Why it matters

Chinese labs can keep serving restricted models abroad through APIs and apps, but transferring the model technology itself needs registration now and a licence once the catalogue is revised.

When
16 Oct 2026
ID
WTA-N-2026-0312
Where
China
Who
Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Science and Technology
Rules involved

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from Ministry of Commerce of China and the reporting credited above. Checked against the source on 17 Oct 2026.

Read the original at Ministry of Commerce of China

Source copy: download the page as saved on 18 Oct 2026 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: Led toDeepSeek and MiniMax register under China’s new AI export rules, state media says

Data to measure this

Compare the years before 2026 with the years since in these series.

  • BACI product-level trade databaseCEPIIHarmonised annual bilateral trade for about 5,000 HS6 products among about 200 countries, including chips.Years: 1995-present · annual · download · CSV · Covers before and after
  • UN ComtradeUnited Nations Statistics Division · paidBilateral goods trade by reporter, partner and product code, for example HS 8542 integrated circuits.monthly · api · CSV, JSON, API

All data for China

Cite this story

WTA-N-2026-0312: “China proposes export controls on 23 AI technologies and starts pre-export registration.” wheresthe.ai, 16 Oct 2026. https://wheresthe.ai/d/cn-china-proposes-ai-export-controls-on-23-technologies-2026-10/ (source: Ministry of Commerce of China).

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