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China’s Draft Biotech Export Controls: What Cross-Border Deals Need to Check Now

By NLSP · 17 October 2026

 

On 16 October 2026, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) published a draft revision of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export (MOFCOM & MOST Announcement No. 48 of 2026). The draft adds 40 technologies across artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals and photovoltaics. Some international headlines have described it as a ban on foreign acquisitions of Chinese biotech. Under PRC law, the picture is more nuanced, and it matters for anyone doing cross-border life science deals between Europe and China.

 

What is covered

The biopharma part covers five technologies related to cell and gene therapy (CGT), small nucleic acid drugs and pathogenic microorganisms. According to MOFCOM's official Q&A:

  • Prohibited from export: proprietary CGT technology process platforms, and pathogen-related technologies (on biosecurity grounds).

  • Restricted (licence required): proprietary technologies for discovering and validating novel universal CGT targets.

Products made using these technologies are outside the scope.

 

What counts as a "CGT process platform"?

The detailed technical indicators are set out in the annex to the Announcement. A practical way to read the term is to ask four questions:

  • Is it a cell or gene therapy technology?

  • Is the IP owned by the Chinese party?

  • Can it be reused across multiple products, rather than serving a single drug?

  • Does the deal transfer ownership or control?

Only where the answer to all four is yes does the prohibition bite. Grey areas remain, for example where a single-product deal also transfers a manufacturing process that could be used for other products.

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What is not covered

The key point for dealmakers is that the rules target transfers of ownership, not collaboration. MOFCOM states that:

  • out-licensing of a covered platform, and using it to provide outsourced R&D and manufacturing services, fall outside the controls;

  • out-licensing of target discovery and validation technologies will benefit from automatic licensing;

  • restricted technologies exported for public health emergencies, humanitarian relief or joint R&D using overseas resources will also benefit from automatic licensing.

In short, the same platform can be licensed abroad, but not sold.  Most recent Western deals for Chinese biotech assets have been licensing deals, not platform acquisitions. Those structures should remain workable.

 

An acquisition counts as a technology export

The draft is open for comment until 15 November 2026, but the interim registration requirement took effect on the day of publication. Until the revised Catalogue enters into force, anyone exporting a listed technology must first register on MOFCOM's online platform. Exports already under way but not yet completed are included. Registration covers:

  • transfers of technology ownership, such as IP assignments;

  • licensing of the technology to overseas users;

  • changes in the owner or actual controller of the technology to an overseas entity.

The last limb means that buying a Chinese company that holds a listed technology is itself captured. Even a licence that will later qualify for automatic approval needs to be registered now. Exporters must assess for themselves whether their technology falls within scope.

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What this means for cross-border deals

For European companies and investors looking at Chinese CGT or nucleic acid assets:

  • check early in due diligence whether the target's technology falls within the draft list;

  • where it does, licensing, co-development or regional rights structures are likely to be easier to execute than an outright acquisition of the platform;

  • for deals already in progress, build MOFCOM registration (and, once the Catalogue is final, any licence) into the conditions and timeline.

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For Chinese biotechs seeking partners in the Nordics and Europe, the same logic applies: keep ownership of the core platform at home and structure the partnership around licences and collaboration. Moving a platform into a European subsidiary or joint venture is itself a technology export under PRC law, and the investment may also trigger foreign investment screening in the destination country.

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The final scope may still change after consultation. We will follow how MOFCOM treats the comments received.

 

Resrouce:

Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson Answers Questions Regarding the Revision of the "Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export" Ministry of Commerce (Official Interpretation) – October 16, 2026  

商务部新闻发言人就修订《中国禁止出口限制出口技术目录》答记者问 商务部 （官方解读） 2026.10.16

https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/syxwfb/art/2026/art_a4acff07e134447fbe7bbeb486df3ea6.html

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This article is for general information only.

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