China’s Three Negative Lists for Services Opening: What the 22 October 2026 Briefing Confirmed
- At the 22 October 2026 State Council Information Office briefing, the Ministry of Commerce named three negative lists — foreign investment access, cross-border trade in services, and cross-border data flow — as the handle for expanding voluntary opening in priority sectors.
在 2026 年 10 月 22 日国务院新闻办公室发布会上，商务部把外商投资准入、跨境服务贸易、数据跨境流动三张负面清单确定为扩大重点领域自主开放的抓手。
- The three lists answer three different questions: whether a foreign investor may hold equity, whether a service may be delivered across the border without an establishment, and whether data may leave the territory.
三张清单回答三个不同的问题：外资能否持股、服务能否不设机构跨境交付、数据能否出境。
- China now has 23 pilot free trade zones after Inner Mongolia was added in April 2026; nine zones plus the Hainan Free Trade Port have issued data export negative lists covering 28 industry fields.
2026 年 4 月新设内蒙古自贸试验区后，自贸试验区总数达 23 个；北京、上海、广东等 9 个自贸试验区和海南自由贸易港已发布数据出境负面清单，涵盖 28 个行业领域。
- In January–August 2026 the 23 pilot zones recorded RMB 8 trillion in imports and exports and RMB 128.74 billion in utilised foreign investment, up 36.7% and 19.3% year on year, or 23.1% and 26.8% of the national totals.
2026 年 1—8 月，23 个自贸试验区进出口总额 8 万亿元、实际使用外资 1 287.4 亿元，同比分别增长 36.7% 和 19.3%，占全国的 23.1% 和 26.8%。
- Utilised foreign investment fell 4.3% year on year in January–September, a narrowing of 6.1 percentage points from the same period last year, while high-tech sectors rose 33.8% and reached 41.6% of the total.
1—9 月全国实际使用外资同比下降 4.3%，降幅较去年同期收窄 6.1 个百分点；高技术产业引资增长 33.8%，占比 41.6%。
- The next opening steps named were pilots in cloud computing, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, support for more qualified offshore issuers of panda bonds, and national treatment in government procurement, tendering and standard-setting.
下一步开放举措包括云计算、生物技术、独资医院等领域试点，支持更多符合条件的境外主体在华发行熊猫债，以及在政府采购、招投标、标准制定中落实国民待遇。
- The 29-measure national services list and 27-measure pilot-zone list are an existing public position from June 2026, not an October measure; the NDRC’s talk of a timely reduction is a press account and no revised list has been issued.
服务业全国版 29 条、自贸试验区版 27 条是 2026 年 6 月的既有公开口径，不是 10 月新政；国家发展改革委关于”适时缩减”的表述属报道口径，修订清单尚未出台。
China’s Three Negative Lists for Services Opening: What the 22 October 2026 Briefing Confirmed | 中国服务业开放的三张负面清单：2026 年 10 月 22 日发布会确认了什么
Overview
On 22 October 2026 the State Council Information Office held a briefing in its “opening the 15th Five-Year Plan” series on high-quality development of commerce during the period. Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Chenghua attended, together with Wu Di of the department of foreign investment administration, Yang Tao of the department of foreign trade, and Yang Mu of the department of market operation and consumption promotion.
Wu Di’s answers are the part that matters for foreign investors. The next stage of pilot free trade zone work, he said, will take three negative lists as its handle — foreign investment access, cross-border trade in services, and cross-border data flow — to expand voluntary opening in priority fields. Alongside them he put support for new forms of business such as cross-border e-commerce and bonded maintenance, and more active international cooperation between free trade parks.
The three lists are routinely treated as one instrument. They are not: each answers a different question, is issued by a different authority, and is consulted at a different point in a project.
Three lists, three different questions
Foreign investment access negative list — may a foreign investor hold equity here at all. This list decides whether a sector is open, restricted (a Chinese partner required, or a cap on the foreign share), or prohibited. It governs establishment and equity acquisition, and it is what a company checks before drafting a joint venture or a wholly foreign-owned structure. According to the Ministry of Commerce’s briefing of 22 June 2026 — an existing public position, not an October measure — restrictions in manufacturing had been reduced to zero, while the services list carried 29 measures in the national version and 27 in the pilot-zone version.
Cross-border trade in services negative list — may the service be delivered across the border without a commercial presence. This list governs supply from outside the territory: a design studio serving Chinese clients from abroad, a remote data-processing service, a foreign institution delivering courses online. A business can sit entirely outside the foreign investment access list and still meet this one, because no entity is being established. The two lists therefore have to be read together for any service that is delivered remotely but also sold through a local presence.
Cross-border data flow negative list — may the data leave. Issued by pilot free trade zones and by the Hainan Free Trade Port, these lists describe by industry and by data category what may be transferred abroad. Under the current data export regime, transfers that fall outside the applicable local list are relieved of the security assessment, the standard contract filing and the certification route. Wu Di said nine pilot zones — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong among them — together with the Hainan Free Trade Port had issued such lists, covering 28 industry fields.
Two consequences follow. The relief is procedural, not substantive: the Personal Information Protection Law, the Data Security Law and sectoral rules continue to apply, so a transfer outside the list must still be lawful on its own terms. And the lists are local, so a group with operations in several provinces may face several different answers for the same data set.
What the briefing added on the zones themselves
Inner Mongolia’s pilot zone was established in April 2026, bringing the total to 23. In the zone’s first half year of operation, from April to September, the two hub ports at Manzhouli and Erenhot handled 5,719 China–Europe freight trains between them, 17.5% more than a year earlier.
The Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration for Market Regulation have also supported four pilot zones, including Hebei, and the Hainan Free Trade Port in a first batch of standardised voluntary opening pilots — an effort to make opening measures comparable and repeatable rather than zone-specific.
Wu Di set the work under three headings: strengthening the zones’ function as a source of reform and innovation to lead new quality productive forces; expanding high-level voluntary opening to lead deeper international economic and commercial cooperation, which is where the three lists sit; and serving major national strategies, through cross-regional coordination among the zones of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Yellow River basin, and replication of reform results nationwide or in specific regions.
The numbers presented
Utilised foreign investment in January–September 2026 fell 4.3% year on year, a narrowing of 6.1 percentage points compared with the same period of 2025. High-tech sectors attracted 33.8% more and accounted for 41.6% of the total. Reinvested profits reached RMB 93.99 billion in the nine months, up 4.7%, with their share 1.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier. Within high-tech, R&D and design services rose 59.2%, energy-saving and environmental-protection industries 11.1%, and digital economy industries 7%.
There are more than 560,000 foreign-invested enterprises in the country. This year has added 84 key projects and 6 flagship projects, with total investment close to USD 20 billion.
For the zones, January–August figures put imports and exports at RMB 8 trillion and utilised foreign investment at RMB 128.74 billion, up 36.7% and 19.3%, or 23.1% and 26.8% of the national totals.
What comes next, and what is not yet decided
Wu Di listed the next opening steps: deepening pilots in cloud computing, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals; advancing the national comprehensive pilot programme for opening the services sector; supporting more qualified offshore institutions to issue panda bonds onshore; fully implementing national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises, with government procurement, tendering and standard-setting treating them alike; and making the foreign enterprise roundtable more effective.
Separately, Shanghai Securities News reported on 16 October that the National Development and Reform Commission intends during the 15th Five-Year Plan period to open telecommunications, the internet, education, culture and healthcare in an orderly way and to reduce the foreign investment access negative list at an appropriate time. That is a press account of an intention. No revised list has been published, and no timetable attaches to it.
Implications for foreign companies
Sequence the three lists before committing to a structure. A service delivered remotely is a cross-border trade question first; a service sold through a local entity is an access question first; and either may then raise a data question if personal information or important data crosses the border. Treating the three as a single gate leads to the common error of clearing the access list and then discovering that the delivery model or the data flow is the binding constraint.
Use the local data list, and read it at field level. The 28 industry fields covered by the nine zones and Hainan are not a national list, and the relief they offer attaches to transfers that the list describes. A company should obtain the text of the list for the province where the exporting entity sits, map its actual transfers — fields, purpose, recipient — against it, and keep the mapping on file. Where a transfer falls inside the list, the security assessment or standard contract route still applies.
Do not build a plan on the negative list revision. The 29 and 27 figures are current, the intention to reduce them has been reported but not published, and sectors named for opening — telecommunications, the internet, education, culture, healthcare — are precisely those where a specific implementing measure, not a headline, determines whether a project can proceed.
Related reading
- *China’s 15-Measure Action Plan for Stabilising Foreign Investment: A Clause-by-Clause Guide* (Article 471) — the action plan’s market access and facilitation items, including the data export negative list work, are analysed there.
Sources
- 国务院新闻办公室·2026-10-22「开局起步’十五五’」系列主题新闻发布会（商务部推进「十五五」时期商务高质量发展有关情况），含发布会文字实录：http://www.scio.gov.cn/
- 中国（河南）自由贸易试验区郑州片区·商务部出题，自贸试验区要做好「三个引领」大文章（2026-10-22），含吴迪关于三张负面清单的原话与自贸试验区数据：https://zzftz.zhengzhou.gov.cn/zmdt/10311269.jhtml
- 中国（湖南）自由贸易试验区·吴迪答记者问实录（2026-10-23）：https://ftz.hunan.gov.cn/hnzm/list01/202610/t20261023_34087161.html
- 中华人民共和国商务部·外国投资管理司（外商投资准入负面清单、自贸试验区工作主管司局）：https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/
中国服务业开放的三张负面清单：2026 年 10 月 22 日发布会确认了什么
概述
2026 年 10 月 22 日，国务院新闻办公室举行”开局起步’十五五'”系列主题新闻发布会，介绍推进”十五五”时期商务高质量发展有关情况。商务部副部长蒋成华出席，商务部外国投资管理司负责人吴迪、对外贸易司司长杨涛、市场运行和消费促进司司长杨沐一同出席。
对外资企业而言，信息量集中在吴迪的回答里。他表示，下一步自贸试验区工作将以外商投资准入、跨境服务贸易、数据跨境流动三张负面清单为抓手，扩大重点领域自主开放；同时支持跨境电商、保税维修等新业态新模式创新发展，主动加强自贸园区国际合作。
这个表述值得拆开看，因为三张清单在实践中常被当成一件工具。它们并不是。三者回答的是三个不同的问题，发布主体不同，在一笔投资的不同阶段被查阅。
三张清单回答三个不同的问题
外商投资准入负面清单：外资在这一行业能不能持股。 这张清单决定一个行业是开放、限制（须有中方合资方，或外资股比有上限）还是禁止。它管的是设立与股权取得，企业在起草合资或外商独资架构之前查阅的就是它。按商务部 2026 年 6 月 22 日发布会口径（属既有公开信息，不是 10 月的新政策），制造业领域外商投资准入负面清单的限制措施已经”清零”；服务业领域，全国版为 29 条，自贸试验区版为 27 条。
跨境服务贸易负面清单：这项服务能不能不设机构、从境外直接交付。 这张清单管的是跨境提供：境外设计机构为中国客户提供服务、境外主体远程提供数据处理服务、境外教育机构在线授课，都落在它的范围内。一家企业可以完全不触及外商投资准入清单，却撞上这一张，因为整个交易里没有任何主体设立动作。对既远程交付、又通过本地机构销售的服务，两张清单必须合起来读。
数据出境负面清单：数据能不能出去。 这类清单由自贸试验区和海南自由贸易港发布，按行业、按数据类别列明哪些数据可以传输至境外。按现行数据出境管理制度，落在本地负面清单范围之外的数据出境，可免于申报数据出境安全评估、订立个人信息出境标准合同、通过个人信息保护认证。吴迪介绍，已有北京、上海、广东等 9 个自贸试验区和海南自由贸易港制定发布数据出境负面清单，涵盖 28 个行业领域。
这一结构带来两个后果。其一，豁免是程序性的，不是实体义务的免除：《个人信息保护法》《数据安全法》以及分行业规定仍然适用，清单之外的数据出境本身仍须合法。其二，清单是地方性的，一个在多个省份有实体的集团，同一套数据可能面对几个不同答案。
发布会补充的自贸试验区情况
2026 年 4 月新设内蒙古自贸试验区，总数达 23 个。该试验区运行的首个半年，即 4 月至 9 月，满洲里、二连浩特两大综合枢纽口岸合计过境中欧班列 5 719 列，同比增长 17.5%。
商务部还将会同市场监管总局，支持河北等 4 个自贸试验区和海南自由贸易港开展首批标准化自主开放试点。这项工作的指向是让开放举措可比、可复制，而不是停留在单个试验区的个案安排上。
吴迪把工作归入”三个引领”：一是强化改革创新策源功能，引领发展新质生产力；二是扩大高水平自主开放，引领深化国际经贸合作，三张负面清单属于这一条；三是深入服务国家重大战略，包括京津冀、长三角、长江经济带、黄河流域各自贸试验区的跨区域协同联动，以及改革成果向全国或特定区域复制推广。
发布会给出的数据
2026 年 1—9 月，全国实际使用外资同比下降 4.3%，降幅较去年同期收窄 6.1 个百分点。高技术产业引资增长 33.8%，占比 41.6%。1—9 月利润再投资 939.9 亿元，同比增长 4.7%，占比较去年同期提高 1.5 个百分点。高技术产业内部，研发与设计服务业引资同比增长 59.2%，节能环保清洁产业增长 11.1%，数字经济产业增长 7%。
存量外资企业超过 56 万家。今年以来全国新增 84 个重点外资项目、6 个标志性项目，总投资近 200 亿美元。
自贸试验区方面，1—8 月 23 个自贸试验区进出口总额 8 万亿元、实际使用外资 1 287.4 亿元，同比分别增长 36.7% 和 19.3%，占全国的 23.1% 和 26.8%。23 个试验区在全国版图上占比不大，却承载了约四分之一的贸易额和外资流入。
下一步，以及尚未确定的部分
吴迪列出的下一步开放方向包括：深化云计算、生物技术、独资医院等领域开放试点；深入推进国家服务业扩大开放综合试点示范；支持更多符合条件的境外主体在华发行熊猫债；全面落实外资企业国民待遇，在政府采购、招投标、标准制定中一视同仁；放大外资企业圆桌会效能。
另据上海证券报 10 月 16 日报道，国家发展改革委表示”十五五”时期将推动电信、互联网、教育、文化、医疗等领域有序扩大开放，适时缩减外资准入负面清单。这是媒体报道的取向表述，修订后的清单尚未公布，也没有附带时间表。
对外资企业的实务意义
先给三张清单排顺序，再定架构。远程交付的服务，第一关是跨境服务贸易；通过本地实体销售的服务，第一关是准入；两者都可能再引出数据问题，如果涉及个人信息或重要数据出境。把三者当成一道门，最常见的错误是过了准入这一关，才发现真正卡住的是交付模式或数据流向。
数据清单要用本地的，并且读到字段一级。9 个自贸试验区加海南覆盖的 28 个行业领域不是一张全国清单，其提供的便利只附着于清单所描述的那些出境情形。企业应取得导出主体所在省份的清单文本，把实际发生的传输按字段、用途、接收方列出来逐项比对，并把这份比对留档。落在清单范围之内的，安全评估或标准合同路径仍然适用。
不要把方案建立在负面清单修订上。29 条和 27 条是现行口径，”适时缩减”是报道出来的取向而非已公布文本；被点到的电信、互联网、教育、文化、医疗，恰恰是具体实施办法而非标题决定项目能否推进的领域。
延伸阅读
- 《中国利用外资固稳促优行动方案 15 条逐条解读》（第 471 篇）——行动方案中的市场准入与投资便利化条目，包括数据出境负面清单相关工作，在该文中已有分析。
来源
- 中国（湖南）自由贸易试验区官网·吴迪答记者问实录（2026-10-23）：https://ftz.hunan.gov.cn/hnzm/list01/202610/t20261023_34087161.html
- 中央纪委国家监委网站·发布会通稿（2026-10-22）：https://www.ccdi.gov.cn/yaowenn/202610/t20261022_518426.html
- 央视网经济频道·外资布局新赛道与发布会数据（2026-10-23）：https://jingji.cctv.cn/2026/10/23/ARTIKXXhnhiRiggsF0aRFJZY261023.shtml
- 上海证券报·外商直接投资权益存量与国家发展改革委口径（2026-10-16）：https://paper.cnstock.com/html/2026-10/16/content_2277771.htm