China’s rare-earth resources belong to the state, the government said in a new regulation that will take effect Oct. 1.

“No organization or individual may encroach upon or destroy rare-earth resources,” according to the text of the regulation published Saturday, which says its aim is to “ensure national resource security and industrial security.”

The explicit statement of state ownership had not been included in a draft of the regulation but was added for the final version.

The rule marks China’s latest move to ring-fence its trove of industrially important metals in response to U.S. efforts to restrict Chinese access to advanced chip technology.

Underground resources in China already belong to the state. But illegal mining and smelting of some rare-earth elements has gone on in the private sector.

The new regulation clarifies the state’s policy of tighter controls.

Management of rare-earth resources “shall implement the lines, principles, policies, decisions and arrangements of the [Chinese Communist] Party and the State … and follow the principles of overall planning, ensuring safety, scientific and technological innovation, and green development,” according to the text.

The regulation applies to the entire supply chain, from mining to smelting and separation, processing, distribution and export.

Rare-earth elements, which include magnet-making materials like neodymium, are vital for the production of a wide range of technologies, from electric vehicles to lasers to missiles. China accounted for about 70% of global production of rare earths in 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The U.S. has expanded mining of rare-earth ores in an effort to break its dependence on imports from China. But it is still reliant on China for smelting and other processing steps.

In 2023, China’s government announced stricter controls on rare-earth exports and an export ban on technologies for manufacturing high-performance magnets and other products that use these metals. A draft of the new rare-earth regulation was first published in 2021.

Beyond rare earths, China has also clamped down on other resources in response to U.S. restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor technology to China. These include gallium, used in the semiconductor industry, and graphite, a material for EV batteries.