Comprehensive national AI law
Issuer: NPC / State Council legislative agenda
Date: DEBATED
Status: NOT ENACTED in China, as of 29 JUL 2026
2025 legislative plans softened commitment; official draft reported Dec 2025 ⚠; AI provisions instead folded into amended Cybersecurity Law (eff. 1 Jan 2026).
On the legislative agenda since 2023, with academic expert drafts circulating since Mar 2024. The 2025 State Council and NPC Standing Committee legislative work plans softened the commitment: replacing 'draft AI Law' with 'advance legislation for the sound development of AI'. The tracker deep-lex reports an official draft first surfaced in Dec 2025 (details unconfirmed). Meanwhile, the amended Cybersecurity Law (adopted 24 Oct 2025, effective 1 Jan 2026) added the first statutory AI article, China's de facto highest-level AI provision today.
Official draft reported Dec 2025 by the deep-lex tracker; content unverified: treat as pending.
What it actually requires (4 provisions)
- Debated since 2023; academic drafts circulated Mar 2024
- 2025 legislative work plans downgraded the draft AI Law to 'advance AI legislation'
- Official draft reported Dec 2025: details unconfirmed ⚠
- Interim: first statutory AI provisions via amended Cybersecurity Law (eff. 1 Jan 2026)
How its status moved
- AGENDAOn legislative plans since 2023
- SOFTENED2025 work plans downgrade commitment
- CURRENTNOT ENACTED: treat any draft as pending
Sources (1)
AI Law tracker: deep-lex: China AI Regulation tracker
Reports a first official comprehensive AI-law draft surfacing Dec 2025; enactment timeline unclear.
Official draft reported Dec 2025 by the deep-lex tracker; content unverified: treat as pending.
The rest of the China stack
12 more instruments in this jurisdiction, each with its own status, provisions and sources.
- Algorithm Recommendation ProvisionsIN FORCEFirst binding algorithm rules; opt-out of feeds; anti-cocoon; created the CAC filing registry.
- Deep Synthesis ProvisionsIN FORCEReal-name, consent of impersonated persons, prominent labeling, algorithm filing.
- GenAI Interim Measures (CAC Order No. 15)IN FORCEPublic GenAI needs security assessment + filing before launch (Art. 17); socialist-core-values content duties.
- CAC filing registriesIN FORCE868 GenAI services + 530 apps (Apr 2026); ~5,672 deep-synthesis algorithms in 14 batches; >5,000 recommendation algorithms; public lists.
- AI Content Labeling Measures + GB 45438-2025IN FORCEDual explicit + implicit labels; platform verification; tampering prohibited.
- Facial Recognition Security MeasuresIN FORCECommercial FR: consent, DPIA, local storage, mandatory-scan bans, 100k-faces filing; state use via PIPL Art. 26 carve-out.
- Anthropomorphic AI Interaction Measures (Decree No. 21)IN FORCEWorld-first companion rulebook: disclosure each session, 2-hr break prompts, minor companion ban, ≤RMB 200k fines; Doubao/Qwen features shut at deadline.
- AI Safety Governance Framework v1.0/v2.0VOLUNTARY / SOFT LAWFirst cross-scenario risk classification; lifecycle duties; agents & embodied AI in v2.0.
- TC260 mandatory/voluntary standardsIN FORCEGB/T 45654-2025, GB/T 45652-2025 (eff. Nov 2025), GB/T 42888-2023; WG9 AI Security Working Group (2026); 400+ standards.
- PBOC Credit Reporting MeasuresIN FORCECredit scoring = licensed business; explainable, traceable, filed models; mainland data storage.
- Shanghai AI Industry RegulationIN FORCEFirst provincial AI law; sandbox, graded management, ethics council; Art. 69 recruitment non-discrimination.
- Global AI Governance Initiative (2023) + Action Plan (Jul 2025)IN FORCE13-point roadmap; proposed Global AI Cooperation Organization, potential Shanghai HQ.
Where this sits in the wider picture
- The China regime dossier gives the doctrine this instrument belongs to, next to the other two jurisdictions.
- The Framework Explorer, filtered to CN lists every instrument in this jurisdiction in one filterable index.
- The governance simulator shows what these rules do to a real AI system, next to what the other two jurisdictions do to the same one.
- The timeline places this date beside what the other capitals were doing that month.
Knowing the instrument is step one. Complying with it is the job.
The programs teach the work that follows a rule like this one: classification calls, conformity assessment, filings, documentation, and the judgment to defend every decision.
VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026. Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources listed above and dated to the day it was checked. Study aid, not legal advice: the official texts are always authoritative.