China will control exports of large drone motors, their speed controllers, big carbon propellers and drone software from 18 November, its Commerce Ministry announced on 19 October. The same announcement loosens the limits on whole drones that fly for longer.
Announcement No. 49, issued with the customs agency and the Central Military Commission’s equipment department, rewrites the drone entries on China’s dual-use export list. Some products that were once advanced “are now mass consumer products”, a ministry spokesperson said. Applications that meet the rules “will be approved”.
What is added
The motors caught are big, slow ones: at least 48 volts and 3 kilowatts, turning at no more than 3,000 rpm. Their speed controllers are listed too, and so are carbon-fibre propeller blades at least 762 mm from the hub to the tip. Parts that size belong on heavy-lift and cargo drones, not camera drones.
Know-how for controlled drones joins the list: flight control, swarm control included, autonomous navigation with anti-jamming satellite navigation and terrain matching, sense-and-avoid, and whole-drone design. Their software, gimbal stabilisation and counter-drone technology are listed as well. So are drone jet engines with 400 newtons of thrust or more.
What is loosened
Under the list in force since December 2024, a drone that could fly beyond the operator’s sight was controlled once it flew for an hour. That bar is now three hours. Below it, from 30 minutes up, a drone is controlled only if it can take off and fly steadily in gusts of 46.3 km/h.
Spraying drones were caught with tanks over 20 litres; the new line is 80 litres. The announcement also leaves out entries the 2024 list carried, among them infrared cameras, radar and target lasers carried as payloads, and counter-drone jammers. It says the list will be updated to match, without saying whether those entries go.
Faster routes, not for everyone
Drones in the 30-minute-to-three-hour band can leave on a registration certificate taken out before each shipment, instead of a licence. So can controlled drones going to a trade show and coming straight back, unless the show is for defence or police buyers. The ministry proposed a similar show route in a draft on 13 October. Exporters with a good compliance record can apply for general licences.
Exports to the US work differently. Since 5 August, controlled drones, parts and technology bound for the US have been reviewed strictly, case by case, and “licence facilitation measures” do not apply to them. Announcement No. 49 files its registration and general-licence routes under that same heading.
From 18 November, an exporter must also declare the specifications of any drone item on the list, or close to its limits, and mark it controlled or not. Customs can hold the goods while it questions a declaration.
