Makers would have to code each robot before it leaves the factory, but the draft leaves its start date blank.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT, 工业和信息化部) has drafted rules that would require a lifetime, tamper-proof identification code on every complete robot made in China, fixed by its maker before the robot leaves the factory. The draft, posted for comment on Nov. 6, covers industrial, service and special-purpose robots. A standard for humanoid robots already gives each of them a similar code.

The ministry says the code would give robots a unified "ID card" and help guard against safety risks in their use "from the supply side." Under the draft text, each robot gets "one machine, one code," stored digitally and marked in forms that people and machines can read. Makers register each product, including its key components and software, on a platform overseen by the ministry. They file each code they use within 20 working days.

MIIT would guide the system and may entrust an unnamed outside body to build the platform. Robot users could look up makers' and products' filed records there. For robots shipped before the rules take effect, makers would file only their own serial numbers.

The rules would reach a fast-growing industry. Industrial companies above the National Bureau of Statistics' (国家统计局) size threshold made 794,781 industrial robots from January through September 2026, up 29.1% from a year earlier, the bureau reported.

The humanoid code, described at a May 22 meeting in Beijing where its platform was unveiled, gives each humanoid robot a 29-character ID. A platform built by an MIIT standards committee had coded more than 28,000 of them by then, China News Service (中国新闻网) reported.

The draft covers only robots made in China. Our search of its full text found no mention of imports, fees or penalties.

The European Union's Machinery Regulation, which applies from Jan. 14, 2027, requires makers to mark machinery with at least its model or type, its year of construction and any batch or serial number that exists. Comments on China's draft are open until Dec. 5 under the ministry's notice. The draft leaves its effective date as "202X."

Sources

Editor: Ian Lamont