---
title_en: "Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Launching Pilot Work on the Pooling of Public Data Resource Governance Costs"
title_zh: "财政部关于开展公共数据资源治理成本归集试点工作的通知"
abbreviation: "Public Data Governance Cost Pooling Pilot Notice"
hierarchy: "rule"
issuing_body: "Ministry of Finance (MOF)"
adopted_date: 2026-04-23
effective_date: 2026-04-23
status: "effective"
related_laws: ["public-data-development-utilization-opinions", "public-data-authorized-operation-specifications", "public-data-registration-interim-measures", "public-data-authorized-operation-pricing-notice", "public-data-authorized-operation-disclosure-notice", "gbt-47950-data-asset-registration-guidance"]
domains: ["data-economy"]
url: https://datacompliancechina.com/laws/public-data-governance-cost-pooling-pilot-notice/
summary: "Issued by the Ministry of Finance on April 23, 2026 as 财会〔2026〕5号, this Notice launches a pilot in ten regions — Beijing, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Qingdao, Chongqing and Sichuan — in which administrative and public institutions that apply the Government Accounting Standards System will inventory their public data resources and pool the costs of governing them. It is the first MOF instrument to treat public data held by government bodies as an object of cost accounting, and it adopts the definition of public data resources from the NDRC/NDA Registration Interim Measures. Pilot units take governance as a stand-alone business line, pool costs across collection, processing, storage and maintenance and security (personnel, purchased data sets, technical services, depreciation, amortization, utilities), and may choose the manufacturing-cost or full-cost method. The timetable runs from unit selection by July 31, 2026 through a cost-pooling window of January to June 2027 to provincial summaries by September 30, 2027. For overseas counsel advising on data-asset accounting, valuation or the pricing of licensed public data, this is the upstream cost base that future accounting rules — and government-guided prices — will rest on."
---

> **Source: Data Compliance China** — https://datacompliancechina.com/laws/public-data-governance-cost-pooling-pilot-notice/ · English rendering and annotations by DCC; the Chinese original governs. Cite as: Data Compliance China, "Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Launching Pilot Work on the Pooling of Public Data Resource Governance Costs", https://datacompliancechina.com/laws/public-data-governance-cost-pooling-pilot-notice/
**Promulgated by:** Ministry of Finance (MOF).  
**Document No.:** 财会〔2026〕5号 (Cai Kuai [2026] No. 5).  
**Issued April 23, 2026. Effective April 23, 2026.**

> *Translation note — DCC. Translated in full from the official Chinese text
> as reproduced in the WKInfo database (departmental normative document;
> four numbered parts). Terminology follows DCC's bilingual glossary. The
> Notice's annex, "Reference Format for Information Compilation," was
> released as a separate PDF and is not contained in the source text; only
> its title is reproduced below. The definition of public data resources
> adopted in Part III is that of Article 3 of the
> [Registration Interim Measures](/laws/public-data-registration-interim-measures/);
> the cost categories track those the
> [Authorized Operation Pricing Notice](/laws/public-data-authorized-operation-pricing-notice/)
> uses for maximum permitted revenue.*

---

To the finance departments (bureaus) of the relevant provinces, municipalities directly under the central government, and cities specifically designated in the state plan:

In order to explore accounting treatment methods for public data resources and promote the scientific management of public data resources, it has been decided to organize pilot work on the pooling of public data resource governance costs in administrative and public institutions in Beijing Municipality, Hebei Province, Liaoning Province, Shanghai Municipality, Zhejiang Province, Anhui Province, Fujian Province, Qingdao Municipality, Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province and other such regions. Notice is hereby given on the relevant matters as follows.

## I. Pilot Objectives

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC and of all plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, and earnestly implementing the deployment of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, the pilot work on the pooling of public data resource governance costs in administrative and public institutions shall drive pilot units to compile lists of their public data resources, identify the resources consumed in data governance, and explore the feasibility of pooling costs for data governance or for specific data products, so as to lay a solid foundation for further research on accounting treatment methods for public data resources and for promoting the scientific management of public data resources.

## II. Pilot Arrangements

**(1) Scope of the pilot.**

Administrative and public institutions carrying out the pilot shall meet the following conditions:

1. They apply the Government Accounting Standards System.

2. They possess abundant public data resources and have a sound foundation in data governance.

3. They have a strong willingness to participate in the pilot, strong organizational and management capacity, and a high level of accounting work.

The finance departments of the pilot provinces, municipalities directly under the central government, and cities specifically designated in the state plan (hereinafter collectively, "provincial-level finance departments") may, according to factors such as the foundation of public data resource management, sectoral distribution and willingness to participate, select some qualified administrative and public institutions in their regions to carry out the pilot, and shall submit electronic copies of the lists of pilot units to the Accounting Regulatory Department of the Ministry of Finance by July 31, 2026.

**(2) Timing of the pilot.**

The pilot work shall be launched from the date of issuance of this Notice. By July 31, 2026, each provincial-level finance department shall select pilot units and complete the deployment of the work. By December 31, 2026, each pilot unit shall complete its preparatory work. From January to June 2027, each pilot unit shall carry out cost pooling. By September 30, 2027, each pilot region shall complete its pilot tasks and produce summary materials.

## III. Pilot Content

**(1) Objects, scope and methods of cost pooling.**

1. Objects of cost pooling.

According to the *Interim Measures for the Registration and Administration of Public Data Resources* (发改数据规〔2025〕26号), public data resources refers to data collections of utilization value that are generated by Party and government organs and by enterprises and public institutions at all levels in the course of performing their duties in accordance with the law or providing public services. Public data resources in this Notice refers to raw data meeting the above definition that is managed by the pilot unit, and to data products or services formed by processing such raw data.

Pilot units shall treat public data resource governance as an independent business line and take the overall input into public data resource governance as the object of cost pooling; units with the necessary conditions may select particular application scenarios, specific data products or services, or the like as the objects of cost pooling.

2. Scope of cost pooling.

Public data resource governance costs in this Notice refers to the resources consumed in the course of data governance, including data collection, processing, storage and maintenance, and security assurance, comprising the expenses of the relevant personnel; the cost of purchased data collections; technical service fees; the cost of materials consumed; depreciation of fixed assets such as buildings, structures and equipment; amortization of intangible assets such as intellectual property and information systems; utility charges such as water and electricity; and other consumption.

Data collection refers to the process of gathering data from data sources of all kinds, mainly including the collection of raw data, the collection of internet data, the collection of data from internal systems, and the purchase of data collections.

Data processing refers to the process of cleansing, transforming and integrating the data collected, mainly including data cleansing and transformation, data integration and standardization, data quality management, metadata and classification-and-grading management, security and compliance governance, adaptation to application scenarios, construction of business models, and product compliance review.

3. Methods of cost pooling.

Pilot units may, in accordance with the materiality principle and the purpose of cost pooling, select either the manufacturing cost method or the full cost method for pooling costs. In carrying out cost pooling, a unit shall take its financial accounting records as the basis and, combining basic data such as the number and working hours of the relevant staff, the consumption of machinery and equipment, and the consumption of water and electricity, pool the relevant expenses in accordance with scientific and reasonable methods and calculate and determine its public data resource governance costs.

**(2) Steps of the pilot work.**

Pilot units shall carry out the pilot work in accordance with the following steps:

1. Establishing a working mechanism.

Pilot units shall establish and improve working mechanisms, promote effective interfacing among the finance department, the business departments and the relevant department with centralized responsibility for data, formulate work plans, clarify the duties of each department, and ensure that the pooling of public data resource governance costs proceeds smoothly.

2. Mapping business processes.

Pilot units shall comprehensively inventory their public data resources and compile a list of public data resources. At the same time, they shall map the business processes of the unit relating to public data resources, determine the departments, personnel, assets and the like involved in the process of governing public data resources, and clarify the direct and indirect resources consumed by each process.

3. Adjusting systems.

Pilot units shall tag, in the unit's relevant information systems, the departments, personnel, assets and the like involved in public data resource governance, so as to ensure that the information generated by the relevant information systems can meet the needs of pooling public data resource governance costs.

4. Carrying out cost pooling.

Pilot units shall, during the period from January 1, 2027 to June 30, 2027, carry out the pooling of public data resource governance costs in accordance with the objects and methods selected.

5. Compiling information.

After the pilot ends, pilot units shall compile the relevant information on the basis of the list of public data resources, the results of pooling public data resource governance costs, and the transactions relating to public data resources. The reference format for information compilation is set out in the annex to this Notice.

6. Submitting materials.

By August 31, 2027, pilot units shall summarize the basic situation, experience, results, problems and recommendations of the pilot, produce summary materials, and submit them, together with the information on public data resources compiled in the format of the annex to this Notice, to the provincial-level finance department.

By September 30, 2027, each provincial-level finance department shall summarize the basic situation, experience, results, problems and recommendations of the pilot in its region, produce summary materials, and submit them, together with electronic copies of the relevant materials of the pilot units, to the Accounting Regulatory Department of the Ministry of Finance.

## IV. Work Requirements

Carrying out the pilot on the pooling of public data resource governance costs is an important piece of work for exploring accounting treatment methods for public data resources and serving the scientific management of public data resources. The Accounting Regulatory Department of the Ministry of Finance will strengthen operational guidance, convene promotion meetings in due course, and study and resolve the problems encountered in the pilot work. Each provincial-level finance department shall attach great importance to the work, strengthen communication and coordination with the provincial-level data administration authority, and organize and guide the pilot work in its region. Pilot units shall establish and improve organizational safeguard mechanisms; properly carry out the preparatory work for the pilot, the cost pooling work during the pilot period, and the subsequent compilation and submission of information in accordance with the requirements of this Notice; properly coordinate this pilot with other reform tasks relating to public data resources; and ensure that the pilot work achieves practical results.

Contact persons: Liu Zheng and Li Xiaohui, Standards Division I, Accounting Regulatory Department, Ministry of Finance

Telephone: 010-68553024, 010-68552531

Email: zhiduyichu@mof.gov.cn

Ministry of Finance  
April 23, 2026

**Annex:** Reference Format for Information Compilation (信息编制参考格式) — issued as a separate PDF; not reproduced in the source text.