China issues first frontier AI export controls
Original title: China's First Frontier AI Export Controls: Mofcom Announcement No. 48
China's MOFCOM adds 23 AI technologies including frontier models to export catalogue with pre-registration requirement.
On October 16, 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued Announcement No. 48 restricting 23 AI technologies including large models with thresholds like 10^26 FLOPs, agents, and offensive cyber capabilities. The catalogue is open for comment until November 15. An interim pre-export registration applies now for listed technologies.
- 23 AI items added to restricted list
- Frontier models controlled at 10^26 FLOPs or 2 trillion parameters
- Pre-export registration required now
- Restrictions on agents for critical infrastructure
- Draft open for comments until November 15
From the original article
12 min read at labs.cloudsecurityalliance.orgOn October 16, 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) issued Announcement No. 48 of 2026. The announcement proposes adding 40 technologies to the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export , 23 of them in artificial intelligence, and it imposes an interim pre-export registration requirement that is already in effect [1][2].
By jonnybgood · labs.cloudsecurityalliance.org
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