China would add 51 type-approval parameters and require OTA validation records
Four ministries opened comment on a joint notice that would put innovative-design and test-validation evidence inside China's vehicle product filings, and bar makers from accepting a supplier's own validation report for safety-critical software.
Four Chinese ministries published a draft notice for public comment on October 10, proposing to add technical parameters on innovative design and on research-and-development test validation to the product filings that permit a vehicle to be sold in China. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the State Administration for Market Regulation set the comment period to November 10 and published the draft without a document number.
From January 1, 2027, filings involving innovative design would have to report 51 added parameters — 41 covering the design itself, 10 covering test validation — which would enter MIIT’s market-access and production-conformity management. Products not validated against the accompanying technical guide, insufficiently validated, or supported by false material would not be granted the announcement that permits sale. Products already holding one would have until July 1, 2027 to file the parameters and the validation evidence.
Several clauses reach software directly. Activities involving an over-the-air update would have to be sufficiently tested, with the company’s internal approval record attached to the filing. Incoming inspection of safety-critical software for combined driving assistance and the smart cockpit could not simply accept a supplier’s own validation report. Software function reliability validation would have to span the whole development process, and the maker would have to hold its own software and code test capability. Vehicles with combined driving assistance or automated driving would need functional safety, safety of the intended functionality, cybersecurity, data security, software update and safety monitoring capability on top of GB 47955 and GB 44721.
The draft guide also requires physical controls alongside virtual ones for safety-critical functions and for activating combined driving assistance, prohibits fully hidden door handles, and states that folding and flexible displays shall not be used. Records would be kept at least six years.
Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology · First reported by CnEVPost