Export bans will mean better protection for drone technology: experts

Exports of some of China's self-developed drone technologies will be suspended to ensure those technologies are better protected and give domestic users priority, experts said.

The remarks followed a joint announcement of the catalogue of technologies prohibited and restricted from export released by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology on Friday. 

The list includes advanced technologies that are used for both military and civilian applications, according to the statement by the official website of the two ministries. 

Drone technology is one of the listed categories.

Some technologies including micro-mission loads in fixed-wing and rotor-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), autonomous navigation, adaptive control, and sensing and avoidance technologies are included, the statement said. Experts believe that such a regulation will boost the protection of Chinese intellectual property rights for drones against the backdrop of US sanctions on Chinese technology companies.

Experts said that moves like restricting certain technologies from being exported are not new in the world, including a probe by the Japanese authorities over Yamaha Motor's export of a drone to a private aerial photographing company in China in 2006 over allegations of its convertibility to military use.

China-based world-leading drone maker DJI has been in the spotlight for its cutting-edge technologies, and like Huawei, the company was probed by the US authorities over allegations of data security.

Against the backdrop of foreign restrictions, in the past eight to 10 years, China has stepped up its own research and development of UAVs, with some technology in the sector leading the world, Yang Jincai, director of the Shenzhen UAV Industry Association, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Since the US and some other states of the Five Eyes alliance restrict exports of their technology to China, our patented technology cannot be easily used by others, which is also for the purpose of better protection of our intellectual property rights (IPR) and the need to maintain technological leadership in the sector," said Yang.

The catalogue will have little impact on the civilian drone sector, since it mainly targets industrial-grade drone technology, although some of the more heavily loaded consumer drones may be included in the restricted list, according to Yang, noting that he expects the prohibition would be "temporary".

Therefore, the catalog will have limited impact on DJI. Although it holds around 70 percent of the global market for consumer drones, its industrial drones account for only 10-15 percent, said Yang.

DJI declined to comment over the matter when contacted by the Global Times on Monday.