The National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC) has trimmed the number of items on its negative list from 117 to 106
- The Negative List for Market Access (2025 Edition) has been approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and will be issued and implemented from now on.
China’s Negative List refers to a government-issued list that outlines sectors and industries where foreign investment is either restricted or prohibited. It’s a central component of China’s effort to manage and gradually liberalise its foreign investment regime.
It specifies sectors in which foreign investors:
Cannot invest at all (prohibited),
Can only invest under certain conditions (restricted),
Or must meet joint venture requirements or ownership caps.
Any sector not on the list is considered fully open to foreign investment.
Today:
- Partially liberalizes eight national measures including for telecommunications services, TV production, pharmaceuticals, internet information services for drugs and medical devices, forest seed imports
- 17 local measures were removed such as traffic logistics, freight forwarding, freight information services, forest resource loss identification, vehicle leasing services
- Unmanned aerial vehicle operations and new tobacco products such as e-cigarettes have been included in the negative list
