On 28 January 2026, the National Standardization Administration of China (SAC), approved and released 9 national standards in the field of standards digitalization. These standards provide unified technical framework to accelerate China’s shift from document-based standards to a digital, machine-readable ecosystem.

These standards address system bottlenecks by breaking information silos, enabling intelligent automation, and creating a semantic network across industries, marking a milestone for the digital economy.

Establishing Unified Foundational Rules for Standards
Three standards from the Standard Digitalization series (GB/T 48000 – 2026) redefines standard structure and management:

1. GB/T 48000.1-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 1: System architecture

It establishes the general principles and basic framework for standard digitalization activities, providing guidance and recommendations on aspects such as digitalization of standards content, process, and application. 

2. GB/T 48000.2-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 2: Reference architecture model:

It establishes a reference architecture model defining core elements across capability, lifecycle, and application levels, resolving industry confusion on implementation.

3. GB/T 48000.3-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 3: Requirement for ontology modeling:

It introduces ontology modeling rules, moving beyond linear text to create multidimensional semantic networks and solve data fragmentation.

4. GB/T4-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 4: Requirements for collaboration development:

It sets protocols for managing data, workflows, and stakeholder roles digitally, boosting development speed and quality by eliminating information barriers.

 

Standardizing the Construction of Semantic Knowledge Bases

Three standards from the Standards Semantic Knowledge Base series (GB/T 46917-2026) establishes mechanisms for knowledge management:

1. GB/T 46917.1-2026 Standards semantic knowledge base – Part 1: General requirements for semantic expression of standard content:

It sets forth principles and rules for the semantic expression of standards content, facilitating the transformation of standards texts into structured machine-interpretable knowledge.

2. GB/T 46917.2-2026 Standards semantic knowledge base – Part 2: Requirements for data interface:

It unifies the data interface specifications between semantic knowledge bases and external systems, improving interoperability of standards across difference systems and domains.

3. GB/T 46917.3-2026 Standards semantic knowledge base – Part 3: Technical requirements for semantic integration:

It clarifies integration rules between semantic knowledge bases and application scenario objects, addressing challenges related to data interaction and integration between knowledge bases and specific use cases.

 

Enabling Intelligent Retrieval and Reasoning
To make standards “smart,” Part 1 of Standards Content Modularization series (GB/T 47013-2026)  and Part 3 of Expression of Machine Language for Standard series (GB/T 46687 -2025) was introduced.

• GB/T 47013-2026Standard content modularization – Part 1: General technical requirements for master structure and configuration:

It defines rules for creating and configuring the master structure of standards in a digital environment, supporting the reuse of common hierarchical structures within standards content. 

• GB/T 46687.3-2026 Expression of machine language for standard – Part 3: Expression method of feature elements

It presents feature element models within a general digital standards model expressed in machine language. This supports applications involving intelligent retrieval, automatic comparison, and logical reasoning based on standards.

 

Supporting the Development of Digital Platforms

GB/T 47012.1-2026 Platform on standard digitalization – Part 1: System architecture defines a platform system architecture encompassing business operations, resources, safeguards, and implementations. It specifies core functional modules, offering a foundation for design, development, and deployment of standards digitalization platforms, thus enabling comprehensive digital management throughout the entire standards lifecycle.

 

Moving forward, SAC will lead promotion campaigns to guide institutions and enterprises in implementing these frameworks. It commits to monitoring global technological trends to refine the digitalization system, ensuring China’s standardization efforts remain at the forefront of the global digital economy.

All standards were develop by the National Working Group for Digitalization of Standards (SWG 29) which was established in 2023. Below is the full list of national standards made by SWG29 to date, providing an overview of the working group’s progress.

 

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List of Standards on Digitalization of Standards Made By SWG 29 (as of Feb 2026)

 

Standards Digitalization：

 

1. GB/T 48000.1-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 1: System architecture
2. GB/T 48000.2-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 2: Reference architecture model
3. GB/T 48000.3-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 3: Requirement for ontology modeling
4. GB/T4-2026 Standard digitalization – Part 4: Requirements for collaboration development

 

Semantic Knowledge Base:

5. GB/T 46917.1-2026 Standards semantic knowledge base – Part 1: General requirements for semantic expression of standard content
6. GB/T 46917.2-2026 Standards semantic knowledge base – Part 2: Requirements for data interface
7. GB/T 46917.3-2026 Standards semantic knowledge base – Part 3: Technical requirements for semantic integration

 

Content Modularization:

8. GB/T 47013.1-2026 Standard content modularization – Part 1: General technical requirements for master structure and configuration
9. 20243480-T-469 Standard content modularization – Part 2: General technical requirements for the provision master model and variants ( Currently going through Call for Comments as of February 2026, )

 

Standards Digitalization Platform:

10. GB/T 47012.1-2026 Platform on standard digitalization – Part 1: System architecture

 

Machine-Language Expression:

11. GB/T 46687.1-2025 Expression of machine language for standard – Part 1: General requirements for basic architecture and elements expression
12. GB/T 46687.3-2026 Expression of machine language for standard – Part 3: Expression method of feature elements
13. 20240571-T-469 Expression of machine language for standard – Part 2: Guidelines for standard document content labeling based on XML (Waiting for final approval for publication as of February 2026; Modification of IEC/ISO Coding Guidelines: 2025)

 

Source: https://www.sac.gov.cn/xw/bzhdt/art/2026/art_b587b05986c0499c9e4a447b970b39fe.html