On May 18, 2026, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in conjunction with the National Fire and Rescue Administration, officially issued the "Fire Safety Guidelines for Scripted Entertainment Venues (Trial Implementation)," which for the first time systematically standardized the fire resistance ratings, flame-retardant performance of cables, and remote monitoring data interface technical requirements for professional equipment such as lighting, sound, and special effects in new entertainment spaces such as immersive theaters and escape rooms. Although this document is a trial guideline, it has quickly extended internationally—it is being transformed into a technical coordination annex for China's export of cultural and tourism performance equipment to ASEAN and the Middle East, and some ongoing projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have already included it as a mandatory compliance basis for equipment bidding.

Event Overview

On May 18, 2026, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Fire and Rescue Administration jointly issued the "Fire Safety Guidelines for Scripted Entertainment Venues (Trial Implementation)". The guidelines explicitly require that: fixed-installation lighting controllers, smoke generators, motor shut-off devices, and other equipment used in scripted entertainment venues must meet the GB 31247-2014 B1 level or higher combustion performance standard; all power and signal cables should comply with the GB/T 19666-2019 flame-retardant Class A standard; and key equipment must have reserved remote status reporting interfaces compliant with the GB/T 28181-2022 protocol. Implementation instructions and technical diagrams for typical scenarios were released simultaneously with the document. There is no transition period, and it serves as a reference for industry supervision from the date of issuance.

Which sub-sectors will be affected?

Direct trading companies : Foreign trade companies that export stage machinery and special effects integrated systems to the Middle East and Southeast Asia are facing situations where buyers embed the terms of the "Guidelines" into their commercial contracts. The impact is reflected in the following: a third-party fire protection type test report must be completed before export (which cannot be replaced by the original CE or UL certification); a Chinese version of the equipment compliance declaration and interface protocol compliance statement must be submitted simultaneously during customs clearance; and the delivery cycle is extended by an average of 7-12 working days.

Raw material sourcing companies : These are companies that supply flame-retardant cables, high-temperature resistant insulation materials, and fire-resistant shell alloys to equipment manufacturers. Their product specifications must correspond to specific standards such as GB/T 19666 Class A and GB 8624 Class B1 in the guidelines. The impact is reflected in: a structural reduction in orders for general-purpose PVC cables, and a 40% increase in inquiries for polymer-modified flame-retardant cables compared to the previous period. However, some small and medium-sized suppliers have not yet obtained CNAS-accredited flame-retardant performance testing qualifications, posing a risk of supply chain adaptation delays.

Manufacturing enterprises : ODM manufacturers specializing in customized performance equipment (such as stage lift controllers and environmental effects main units) need to redesign their circuit layouts to meet requirements for cable separation, independent grounding, and thermal runaway protection; they must also embed the GB/T 28181 status heartbeat mechanism in the firmware layer. The impact is manifested in: existing production lines needing to be equipped with flame-retardant material laser marking stations and protocol consistency testing fixtures; the development and verification cycle for a single model will be extended by 3-5 weeks; and the technical responsiveness of small and medium-sized manufacturers will become increasingly differentiated.

Supply chain service companies : Service providers offering export certification consulting, localization compliance rectification, and multilingual technical documentation are experiencing a significant surge in business demand. The impact is reflected in a sharp increase in inquiries regarding the "guidelines + SASO/ESMA" dual-track certification package for the Middle East market; however, there are currently fewer than 20 local service providers with experience in coordinating type testing of fire equipment, putting significant pressure on their service capabilities.

Key areas of focus and corresponding countermeasures for relevant enterprises or practitioners

Prioritize identifying whether the target market has already cited this guideline as a prerequisite for bidding.

The Saudi Ministry of Culture's tender documents for three national theater renovation projects and the Louvre Abu Dhabi Phase II interactive theater equipment, published in Q2 2026, have all listed Clauses 4.2 (cable flame retardancy rating) and 5.3 (remote monitoring interface) of the Guidelines as disqualifying clauses. Companies must complete a benchmarking analysis of these clauses before submitting their bids to avoid rejection due to incomplete technical responses.

Initiate fire safety compliance gap assessment of existing export product lines

Key areas to check: ① Whether the fire performance test report for the equipment casing material covers B1 level measured data; ② Whether all cables have a Class A flame retardant test certificate issued by a CMA-certified laboratory; ③ Whether the control system supports the active online status reporting function of the equipment as defined in Section 8.3 of GB/T 28181-2022. It is not recommended to rely on existing certifications such as CE LVD or UL 60950-1 for equivalent replacement.

Establish pre-inspection cooperation with fire protection testing organizations that have CNAS accreditation

Currently, there are only six CNAS-accredited laboratories nationwide (located in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Sichuan) with the capability to conduct specialized combustion tests on script entertainment equipment, with an average waiting time of 6-8 weeks. Companies are advised to schedule sample pre-inspections in advance and utilize the test feedback to optimize structural designs, avoiding delivery delays caused by batch rectification.

Editor's Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Observably, this guideline is not merely a domestic safety regulation—it functions as China's first de facto technical export standard for immersive entertainment infrastructure. Unlike previous cultural policy documents, it carries tangible contractual weight due to its direct incorporation into Gulf procurement rules. Analysis shows that its influence extends beyond compliance: it reshapes value allocation in the supply chain, elevating the role of fire-rated material suppliers and protocol-integration engineers over traditional mechanical designers. From industry perspective, this signals a broader shift abroad—where cultural policy increasingly serves as a vehicle for technical standardization diplomacy.

Conclusion

The cross-border spillover effect of the "Guidelines for Fire Safety in Scripted Entertainment Venues" signifies that my country's cultural tourism equipment industry is accelerating its shift from "product export" to "standard collaborative export." What deserves more attention now is whether these guidelines can become an important reference text for ISO/IEC JTC 1 in developing future international standards for the safety of intelligent devices in immersive spaces. It is more accurately understood as a pragmatic attempt to leverage domestic regulation as a fulcrum to influence the discourse power of global technical rules in specific sub-sectors.

Information source explanation

Official sources: Announcement on the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Wen Shi Fa [2026] No. 17), and Technical Bulletin of the National Fire and Rescue Administration (Xiao Ji [2026] No. 8);
International supporting evidence: Saudi Ministry of Culture's "Al-Ula Performing Arts Hub Tender Document V3.1" (revised April 2026) and Abu Dhabi Ministry of Culture and Tourism's "Saadiyat Island Immersive Theatre RFP Annex D" (issued May 10, 2026).
Continued monitoring is needed regarding the adoption progress of the guideline by the ASEAN Standardization Association (ASEAN/ACC) and the compatibility assessment of similar devices in Annex F of the new version of EU EN 62368-1.