China’s Temporary Export Registration for AI, Biopharma and Solar Technology: How Should Overseas Deals Be Signed and Closed?

1. Immediate answer: register now, but do not assume the final classification

This guide is for an overseas party acquiring, licensing, investing in, jointly developing or procuring China-origin AI, biopharma or photovoltaic technology. MOFCOM and MOST Announcement No. 48 took effect on publication on 16 October 2026. Until the revised Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export is formally implemented, an export of any of the 40 listed technologies requires temporary registration. A started but unfinished export is included.

The attachment proposes 14 technologies for prohibition and 26 for restriction. MOFCOM's Q&A confirms that these are proposed catalogue changes. A registration receipt should therefore never be drafted as a licence, compliance approval or promise that the deal can close after the final catalogue. Conversely, the draft status is not a reason to continue an irreversible source-code, model, process or control transfer without addressing the live registration measure.

2. Apply a technology–transfer–stage test

First, compare the actual technology, version, control points and parameters with the official attachment. A company or product merely being described as AI, pharmaceutical or solar is not enough. Second, identify the route by which technology moves from China to an overseas party. Article 2 of the current Technology Import and Export Regulation includes assignments of patents and patent-application rights, patent licences, know-how transfers, technical services and other transfers.

Announcement No. 48 expressly includes transferring ownership, licensing or otherwise making technology available for overseas use, and a change of the technology owner or actual controller to an overseas person. Third, record whether the deal is at diligence, signing, payment, registration, licence application, partial delivery or completion. The same technology can create a different stopping point at a different transaction stage.

• Technology: preserve specifications, parameters, version, source-code or model-weight scope, process drawings, equipment carriers and the developing entity.
• Transfer: distinguish a goods sale, ordinary service, overseas deployment, IP assignment, licence, joint development, control change and post-closing support.
• Stage: temporary registration reaches pending exports; instalment payment or partial delivery does not by itself establish completion.

3. The three sectors have different boundaries

MOFCOM's Q&A states that the proposed AI entries exclude technology already public or open source. Under the proposed approach, providing model services overseas through an API, app, webpage, SaaS or lightweight end-side deployment is not large-model technology export, while overseas local deployment involving transfer of a restricted technology may be. These explanations help interpret the proposal; the actual deliverables and control points still need transaction-specific review.

For biopharma, the Q&A discusses exclusions or facilitation for specified overseas IP licences, collaborative or commissioned R&D and commissioned manufacturing. For photovoltaics, it notes that key or core equipment carrying a listed technology may be covered. Calling an arrangement a service, equipment purchase or investment does not decide its substance.

4. Temporary registration, restricted-technology licensing and free-technology registration are different

For temporary registration, the exporter provides information including the exporter, importer or recipient, destination, technology and use, and estimated value through the designated system. Multiple technologies for the same recipient may be combined. This is a current information measure, not a determination under the future catalogue, and it does not displace any separate export-control, data, IP, sector or foreign-exchange rule.

After the final catalogue takes effect, a technology formally prohibited cannot be exported. A technology formally restricted follows the licensing route. Under the current Regulation, the exporter must obtain a letter of intent for a restricted technology before substantive negotiations and signing; the contract takes effect when the export licence is issued. A freely exportable technology instead follows contract-registration rules. Draft each gateway separately rather than using an undefined 'government approval' condition.

5. Separate signing, payment, closing and technology handover

An overseas counterparty will not normally register or seek the PRC licence for the Chinese exporter. It can, however, impose clear cooperation, accuracy, status-notice and evidence obligations. The parties may sign before the final regulatory result, but irreversible technology delivery, control change, non-refundable payment and final closing should be tied to appropriate conditions.

The official restricted-technology guide gives an indicative 30-working-day review for the letter of intent and 15 working days for the export licence. Supplementation, complexity and separate reviews may affect the timetable; those periods are not a promise for the current temporary registration. A long-stop date should allow for classification, registration, licensing, supplementation and a change in the regulatory position.

• Before signing: identify the technology, version, source entity, recipient, destination, use, estimated value and any control change.
• Closing conditions: require evidence of temporary registration and, once the final catalogue applies, the relevant licence, registration or documented classification basis.
• Payment: connect deposits, milestones, escrow and refunds to verifiable regulatory events, not merely filing an application.
• Delivery controls: withhold source code, weights, core processes, complete drawings, keys and remote access until the relevant condition is met.
• Exit: address long-stop dates, costs, partial performance, a compliant reduced scope, return or destruction and a refund deadline.

6. Build an evidence file by purpose

Both regulatory analysis and contract remedies depend on a traceable record. Require the Chinese exporter to preserve the filed information and system status, and retain the version, date and restrictions of everything the overseas party receives. Confidential information can be disclosed in stages, but a one-line warranty that the transaction is 'not controlled' is inadequate.

This guide does not reproduce or classify all 40 technical control points in the official attachment. Similar names do not establish coverage. Apply the attachment's thresholds and parameters, the registration system and appropriate technical and legal classification advice.

• Technology scope: attachment mapping, specifications, versions, R&D and title records, and equipment-carrier analysis.
• Transaction route: main agreement, licence scope, IP assignment, control documents, R&D or service work statement, access and deployment architecture.
• Registration or licence: filed data, receipt, supplementation request, letter of intent, licence, contract registration and correspondence.
• Performance: payments, delivery schedule, repository or server logs, account permissions, training, acceptance and stop-delivery records.
• Exit and loss: long-stop notice, refund demand, replacement transaction, additional cost, and return or destruction evidence.

7. Recurring failure paths and disputes

Frequent errors include relying only on a customs commodity code; treating temporary registration as permission; accepting a self-classification warranty without attachment mapping; transferring core material before registration or licensing; using a SaaS, service or equipment label despite local deployment or technology delivery; overlooking a change of owner or actual controller; and treating the 15 November comment deadline as a grace period.

If the regulatory route fails, the parties may still dispute contract effectiveness, satisfaction of conditions, application and cooperation duties, value of partial delivery, refund rights and a compliant substitute. An overseas buyer should not accept 'we cannot obtain approval' without an application record. Include document access, periodic status reports and evidence obligations, not only a promised result.

8. Regulatory penalties and private contract liability are separate

The current Foreign Trade Law authorises prohibitions, restrictions and temporary measures for technology trade and requires licensing for restricted technologies. Article 73 provides for confiscation of illegal income and a fine of one to five times that income for relevant violations; where the income is lower or absent, a fine up to RMB 500,000 may apply. Restrictions on relevant foreign-trade activity are also possible.

A regulatory penalty does not itself resolve a refund, damages or IP dispute between the parties. Address compliance duties, representations, continuing notice, closing conditions, breach, costs, refund, liability caps, return of materials, dispute resolution and urgent relief separately. Any penalty range, licence outcome or contractual remedy still depends on the final catalogue, conduct and applicable procedure.

9. What an overseas counterparty should do now

Pause irreversible handover or control closing. Prepare a one-page schedule of technology, parameters, exporter, recipient, destination, use, value, transaction route and completion status, then map it against the Announcement No. 48 attachment. Ask the Chinese exporter whether it has registered, obtain the receipt and require notice of change. Check separate export-control, data and sector rules at the same time.

Obtain transaction-specific classification and drafting advice before proceeding if the deal involves source code or model weights, overseas local deployment, core processes or equipment, pharmaceutical licensing or commissioned R&D, a change of actual control, a started but unfinished transfer, or an approaching payment or long-stop date. For an initial review, provide the technology schedule, structure chart, draft agreement, delivery timeline, registration status and payment milestones. Do not send unnecessary core secrets before conflicts and a suitable transmission channel are confirmed.