GoKawiilMOFCOM Announcement No. 48 proposes China's first frontier AI export controls
On October 16, 2026, China's Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement No. 48, proposing to add 40 technologies to its export control catalogue, 23 of them AI-related, covering frontier model weights, agent architectures, and offensive cyber capabilities tied to specific technical thresholds. The catalogue additions are open for public comment until November 15, 2026, but an interim pre-export registration requirement takes effect immediately and applies even to exports already underway.