According to Announcement No. 1 of 2026 issued by the Ministry of Commerce on January 6, China has comprehensively strengthened export controls on dual-use items to Japan and added activated carbon to the strict control range of the 2026 Catalogue of Dual-Use Items and Technologies Subject to Import and Export License Administration .

This catalogue contains 1,005 items and explicitly lists activated carbon alongside rare earths, nuclear materials, ethanol, acetic acid, etc., in the controlled list .