On 28 September 2025 the Chinese legislator issued a novel Notice Regarding Implementing the Standards for Domestic Products and Relevant Policies in Government Procurement 国务院办公厅关于在政府采购中实施本国产品标准及相关政策的通知 guówùyuàn bàngōng tīng guānyú zài zhèngfǔ cǎigòu zhōng shíshī běnguó chǎnpǐn biāozhǔn jí xiāngguān zhèngcè de tōngzhī. The Notice is effective since 1 May 2026. It is relevant for foreign exporters to China inasmuch as it changes how “domestic products” are defined in public procurement. The new rules should be welcome by foreign bidders inasmuch as they reaffirm the prohibition of discriminatory tender terms such as restricting brands by registration location, ownership type, or investor nationality. However, they also say that products meeting the domestic product standards can participate in government procurement on an equal footing, while remarkably introducing a 20 percent price preference for qualifying local products in evaluations. Critics fear that this new rule could create a structural disadvantage for foreign exporters by forcing them to lower their prices by 20 percent unless they localize production in China. Implementation will clarify the rules during the transition period which is expected to last between three to five years, but it is anticipated that, in the meantime, a product may qualify as “domestic” only if made or transformed in China. Meanwhile, serious WTO-compatibility concerns have been raised ; yet whether a challenge will succeed will depend on the exact design, scope, and legal basis of the 20 percent rule.