On February 24, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued the Regulation on the Protection of Trade Secrets, effective June 1, 2026. It replaces a 12-article regulation from 1995 with a more detailed 31-article regulation. The Regulation builds on amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, but what changes on June 1 is the level of detail available to enforcement authorities and the specificity of the compliance standards companies are expected to meet.

Broader Definitions: The 1995 provisions listed protectable information such as designs, product formulas, manufacturing processes, and customer lists. The new Regulation expands these for a digital context, now explicitly covering algorithms, computer programs, code, and customer transaction habits and intentions. It also extends protection to interim research results and failed experimental data, if they carry commercial value. (Articles 5, 7)

Codified Safe Harbours: The Regulation now lists conduct that is formally defined as not constituting infringement, including independent development, reverse engineering of products obtained through public channels, and a former employee’s use of general knowledge and industry experience from prior employment. (Article 15)

Digital-Era Confidentiality Standards: The old framework listed three broad categories of confidentiality measures: agreements, internal systems, and other reasonable measures. The new Regulation sets out eight specific categories, including tiered access controls, data masking, and operation log tracking, with express reference to remote work and cross-border collaboration. Companies seeking protection will need to demonstrate measures consistent with these standards. (Article 9)

Defined Digital Prohibitions: The Regulation now defines specific scenarios of electronic intrusion: unauthorised access to systems, servers, email, and cloud storage; deploying malicious programs or exploiting vulnerabilities; and the unauthorised transferring of trade secrets to devices or storage outside the rights holder’s control. (Article 10)

Structured Evidence Requirements: The 1995 provisions offered little guidance on filing complaints. The new Regulation sets out five categories of preliminary evidence and five types of specific leads required, covering the formation process of the information, its commercial value, the confidentiality measures taken, and evidence of the alleged infringer’s access. (Articles 17, 18)

Employee Offboarding: The Regulation lists, among recognised confidentiality measures, that departing employees should register, return, delete, or destroy trade secrets and their carriers. The burden is on the rights holder to establish and enforce these exit procedures. (Article 9)

For foreign companies operating in China, trade secret protection under administrative enforcement depends on what you can document and demonstrate. PSU helps companies align their internal systems with current regulatory expectations through compliance reviews, audits, and on-the-ground operational support.

By Johan Magnusson, Executive Advisor