China's Ministry of Commerce, General Administration of Customs, and Central Military Commission Equipment Development Department issued a joint announcement on October 19, outlining a decision to optimize and adjust export control measures for certain unmanned aerial vehicle-related items.
The decision, numbered Announcement No. 49 of 2026, was made in accordance with the Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China, the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China, the Customs Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Regulations on Export Control of Dual-Use Items. It was approved by the State Council and the Central Military Commission to safeguard national security and interests, and takes effect on November 18, 2026.
Items requiring export licenses
Under the announcement, the following items may not be exported without a license.
First, autopilots specially designed for unmanned aerial vehicles, classified under 7A103.b, with reference customs commodity number 90142010.10.
Second, technology under 7E103 used for items controlled under 7A103, including gimbal stabilization technology for the development, production, or use of items controlled under 7A103.a, and mission payload technology for the development, production, or use of items controlled under 7A103.b.
Third, unmanned aerial vehicles or unmanned airships under 9A012.a that can fly controllably beyond the operator's natural line of sight and meet either of the following characteristics. The first is a maximum endurance of 30 minutes or more but less than 3 hours, together with the ability to take off and fly stably and controllably in gusty conditions of 46.3 km/h (25 knots) or above. The second is a maximum endurance of 3 hours or more. The announcement includes reference customs commodity numbers for these items. It also provides technical notes defining operator, endurance, and natural line of sight. Operator refers to a professional responsible for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle or unmanned airship through a ground control station by remote control or programming to ensure the flight mission is completed. Endurance refers to continuous flight time converted to sea level zero-wind conditions under international standard atmospheric conditions (ISO 2533:1975). Natural line of sight refers to the maximum distance at which an observer on the Earth's surface can clearly see an object under ideal conditions without human interference or atmospheric pollution, with practical applications usually considering atmospheric effects.
Fourth, engines under 9A012.b specially designed for unmanned aerial vehicles or unmanned airships. These include air-breathing piston or rotary internal combustion engines specially designed for high-altitude flight above 15,420 meters (50,000 feet), with reference customs commodity numbers 84071010.10 and 84071020.10; aero engines with maximum continuous power exceeding 16 kW, with reference customs commodity numbers including 85012000.10, 85013200.10, 85013300.10, 85013400.10, 85014000.10, 85015200.10, 85015300.10, 84071010.10, 84071020.10, 84089092.30, 84089093.20, 84111110.10, 84111190.10, 84111210.10, 84111290.20, 84112100.10, 84112210.10, 84112220.10, 84112230.10, and 84118100.02; and turbojet engines with thrust of 400 N or more, with reference customs commodity numbers 84111110.10, 84111190.10, 84111210.10, and 84111290.20.
Fifth, radio communication equipment under 9A012.e specially designed for unmanned aerial vehicles or unmanned airships controlled under 9A012.a and meeting either of the following characteristics: airborne radio communication equipment with equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of 30 dBmW (dBm) or more, or the capability for one station to control more than 10 aircraft. The announcement defines EIRP as the radiated power of an actual transmitting system in a given direction, expressed as the transmit power needed by an ideal isotropic antenna to produce the same power density. It defines dBmW (dBm) as a logarithmic power unit with 1 mW as the reference power, used to express the absolute power level of a signal.
Sixth, unmanned aerial vehicles under 9A112 not controlled under 9A012, with reference customs commodity numbers listed in the announcement. These include unmanned aerial vehicles with a range or flight distance of 300 km or more; unmanned aerial vehicles with autonomous flight control and navigation capabilities that contain or are designed to be equipped with aerosol dispersal systems or devices with a capacity greater than 80 liters; and unmanned aerial vehicles with the capability for an operator to control flight beyond natural line of sight that contain or are designed to be equipped with aerosol dispersal systems or devices with a capacity greater than 80 liters. The announcement states that 9A112 does not control model aircraft specially designed for entertainment or competition.
Seventh, unmanned aerial vehicle-related components under 9A901. These include brushless motors specially designed for unmanned aerial vehicle propellers that meet all of the following characteristics: rated voltage of 48 V or more, rated power of 3 kW or more, rated power density of 3 kW/kg or more, and rated speed of 3,000 rpm or less, with reference customs commodity numbers 85012000.10, 85013200.10, 85013300.10, 85013400.10, 85014000.10, 85015200.10, and 85015300.10. They also include electronic speed controllers specially designed for items controlled under 9A901.a that meet all of the following characteristics: rated voltage of 48 V or more and rated power of 3 kW or more, with reference customs commodity numbers 85044099.70 and 90328990.95. They further include carbon fiber composite blades usable for unmanned aerial vehicles that meet any of the following characteristics: for fixed-pitch blades whose structure passes through the rotation center, the length from the rotation center to the blade tip is 762 mm or more; for fixed-pitch blades whose structure does not pass through the rotation center, the length from the blade root end face to the blade tip is 648 mm or more; or the blade root has a variable-pitch function, with reference customs commodity number 88071000.10. The announcement explains that the variable-pitch function under 9A901.c.3 refers to structures such as a pitch-change pin at the blade root end face or holes in the blade root for connecting a pitch-change rocker arm that can achieve the variable-pitch function.
Eighth, software under 9D901 specially designed for the development, production, or use of items controlled under 9A012.a and 9A112.
Ninth, technology under 9E901 used for the development, production, or use of items controlled under 9A012.a and 9A112, including flight control technology such as single-aircraft control technology and swarm control technology; autonomous navigation technology such as inertial navigation technology, terrain-matching navigation technology, and anti-jamming satellite navigation technology; sense-and-avoid technology; and overall system design technology.
Tenth, technology under 9E902 used for the development, production, or use of items controlled under 9A012.b, 9A012.c, 9A012.d, 9A012.e, and 9A901.
Eleventh, polar lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle design and manufacturing technology under 9E903 that has all of the following characteristics: takeoff and landing on shipborne mobile platforms or ice surfaces; maximum takeoff wind speed of Level 6 or above; minimum operating temperature of -30 degrees Celsius or below; maximum endurance of 6 hours or more; and payload capacity of 10 kg or more.
Twelfth, human-machine hybrid control technology under 9E904 for complex land-domain unmanned platforms in weak-communication environments that has all of the following characteristics: image semantic compression rate of 75% or more; single-frame image reconstruction delay of 150 ms or less; correct parsing rate of end-side task chains of 70% or more; natural language interaction response latency of 1 second or less; and task execution success rate in unknown environments of 95% or more.
Thirteenth, counter-unmanned aerial vehicle technology under 0E903 used for the development, production, or use of items controlled under 0A903.
License applications and customs declarations
Export operators exporting the above items shall apply to the competent commerce department of the State Council for a license in accordance with the Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China and the Regulations on Export Control of Dual-Use Items.
Export operators shall be responsible for the authenticity of declared goods. For items listed in the announcement, they shall declare characteristics and other indicator information to customs and note "subject to export control" in the remarks column of the customs declaration form. For items not listed in the announcement but with similar characteristics or indicators, or items whose use does not fall under the circumstances listed in the announcement but whose other characteristics or indicators meet the listed conditions, they shall declare characteristics and other indicator information to customs and note "not subject to export control" in the remarks column. If customs has doubts about the authenticity of the declared information, it will raise questions in accordance with the law, and the export goods will not be released during the questioning period.
Facilitation measures
Export operators may apply legally available licensing facilitation measures when they meet the relevant conditions. For exports of items controlled under 9A012.a.1, export operators may, before each export, obtain an export certificate by registering and filling in information and then export independently. For items controlled under 9A012.a and 9A112 that are used to participate in exhibitions held within the territory of the People's Republic of China, excluding defense and police exhibitions, and are returned in their original form to the original place of export immediately after the exhibition ends, or that are used to participate in exhibitions held outside the territory of the People's Republic of China, excluding defense and police exhibitions, and are returned in their original form into China immediately after the exhibition ends, export operators may, before each export, obtain an export certificate by registering and filling in information and then export independently. The commodity numbers, supervision methods, quantities, end users, and other information registered and filled in by export operators shall be consistent with the information declared to customs. For exporters that have established an internal compliance system for dual-use item export controls and operate it well, have relevant dual-use item export records, and have relatively fixed export channels and end users, facilitation measures such as general licenses may apply in accordance with the law. For illegal exports, illegal resale, or diversion, relevant responsible persons will be held accountable in accordance with laws and regulations.
Effective date
The announcement takes effect on November 18, 2026, and the Dual-Use Items Export Control List of the People's Republic of China will be updated accordingly.
Comments