MOFCOM Spokesperson’s Remarks on the Revision of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export

Announcement No. 48 of 2026, issued on 16 October 2026, proposes adding 40 technologies to the export control catalogue: 14 prohibited from export and 26 restricted (licence required).

Artificial intelligence accounts for 23 of the proposed items, covering large models, intelligent agents, computing-power clusters and information processing; AI-driven malicious code generation and mutation would be prohibited, while AI-assisted vulnerability discovery would be restricted.

Five biomedical technologies would be added, covering pathogenic microorganisms, cell and gene therapy and small nucleic acid drugs; proprietary cell and gene therapy technology and process platforms would be banned from export, while proprietary target discovery and validation technology would be restricted.

Twelve photovoltaic technologies would be added, including perovskite and tandem cell module production technology (prohibited) and polysilicon engineering technology for single-line capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year or more (restricted).

From the date of the announcement until the formal revised Catalogue takes effect, exporters must self-assess and register covered technology exports in MOFCOM's Technology Trade Management Information Application; this includes technology transfers, outbound licensing, and changes of control of domestic technology to an overseas entity.

Facilitation measures such as automatic licensing ('immediate approval upon filing') apply to open-sourcing, deployment on overseas self-owned clouds, overseas chip tape-out and manufacturing, cross-border joint R&D, international standard-setting, public-health emergencies and humanitarian assistance, and technologies already public through open source or published papers are excluded from control.