On 26 June 2026, the National Standardization of Administration of China (SAC) held a press conference on Agentic AI standardization, announcing the release of 7 national standardization guiding technical documents forming the GB/Z 185-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent Interconnection series. The standards introduce a domestic protocol called Agent Interconnection Protocols (AIP) to support the State Council’s AI+ Action Plan.
According to Ms. Zhu Meina, Deputy Director-General of Department of Standards Technology Management at SAC, the series targets AI agent silos, weak traceability and identity management, and high innovation costs. With no international consensus yet on agent identity management, China is moving to fill that gap.
The 7 standards are:
- GB/Z 185.1-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 1: General architecture
- GB/Z 185.2-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 2: Identity code
- GB/Z 185.3-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 3: Identity management
- GB/Z 185.4-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 4: Agent description
- GB/Z 185.5-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 5: Agent discovery
- GB/Z 185.6-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 6: Agent interaction
- GB/Z 185.7-2026 Artificial intelligence – Agent interconnection – Part 7: Agent tool invocation
Together they form a close-loop framework spanning identity marking, capability description, supply-demand discovery, collaborative interaction, and tool invocation. SAC plans to convert the identity code standards to mandatory national standards after recruiting pilot units to test them and gathering sufficient real-world feedback. Additionally, standardization on agent auditing and trading will be brought forward yet will the standards be mandatory or voluntary remains unclear.
Ms. Zhu Meina also revealed that SAC is working with other ministries to accelerate standards for frontier technology and refine the national AI standards matrix. The pipeline extends beyond agents to embodied intelligence, world models, ontology models, computing infrastructure, high-quality datasets, simulation platforms, deep learning compilers, and open-source model platforms. Standards for AI enterprise maturity assessment developing under SAC/TC 260(Cybersecurity) and high-value AI scenario evaluation developing under SAC/TC 28 (Information technology) are also slated for release soon.
SAC is streamlining the full standards lifecycle to cut development times. For frontier areas, it is adopting agile standardization: issuing guiding technical documents first to build industry consensus quickly, fill regulatory gaps, and set compliance boundaries early. The goal is to shift standards from trailing industry to leading innovation.
For European stakeholders, the GB/Z series warrants close attention. SAC has signaled clear intent to convert the identity code standards to mandatory requirements, which would directly affect market access. All AI agents operating in China may soon need a unique identifier aligned with Chinese standards to remain compliant.
This sits within a broader pattern. China’s standardization push is accelerating toward faster, stronger and more influential output. It is highly likely that China will mature its agentic AI protocols domestically and then propose them to international bodies such as ISO, IEC and ITU, seeking to shape global norms. SESEC will continue to monitor this series closely, and European stakeholders are strongly advised to track similar proposals in international standardization organizations.
Source: https://www.sac.gov.cn/xw/bzhyw/art/2026/art_3130ceca6a03423484a2793e1c45d84c.html
