China drafts lifetime ID codes for every robot it makes, not just humanoids

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Nov. 6 released draft rules requiring every complete robot made in the country—industrial, service and special-purpose—to carry a lifetime, tamper-proof identification code assigned by its maker before leaving the factory, with each unit registered on a ministry-supervised platform and codes filed within 20 working days. The “one machine, one code” system, open for comment until Dec. 5, would build on an existing humanoid robot standard that assigns a 29-character ID and had coded more than 28,000 humanoids by late May. The draft leaves its effective date as “202X,” covers only domestically made robots, and does not mention imports, fees or penalties. Beijing says the unified “ID card” would help guard against safety risks from the supply side, and the system would let robot users look up makers’ and products’ filed records. Watch for the final text’s start date and any penalties, and for how the platform—which MIIT may entrust to an unnamed outside body—interacts with the EU’s Machinery Regulation, applicable from Jan. 14, 2027.