in effect
This is a final rule from the Department of Defense — a regulation that takes legal effect, not a proposal. It carries out a law Congress passed (Section 1257 of the 2023 defense authorization act) governing when the DoD will help outside entertainment productions (films, TV, documentaries, video games) by lending military people, equipment, locations, or technical advice. It sets the procedures productions must follow and the conditions under which DoD can say no or pull support.
DoD will not provide production assistance when there is demonstrable evidence that a project has complied, or is likely to comply, with a demand from the Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party (or an entity they direct) to censor the project’s content in a material way to advance the PRC’s national interest. To get help, an authorized company representative must now certify in writing that the project has not done this and is not likely to, and requests must be submitted on the new standardized form, DD Form 3205. A DoD project officer assesses the likelihood of compliance using the company’s certification, its ongoing contract obligation to report any censorship demand in writing, and verifiable information from outside sources; support can be initiated, continued, or terminated based on that review. The rule takes effect July 9, 2026, and the sample Production Assistance Agreements were updated (including a 72-hour cure period to fix a violation before DoD may permanently withdraw support). DoD estimates roughly 195 requests a year (down from about 200) and notes assistance is provided at no extra cost to taxpayers and reimbursed by the production company.
The main group affected is producers and production companies that ask DoD for assistance — most directly, larger feature-film projects (DoD averages about 7 per year) that might want to release in China, where the rule says films require a government permit and censorship is pervasive. Unscripted and documentary productions, which make up most of DoD’s roughly 100 supported projects a year and are typically not released in China, are not expected to be significantly affected. The rule does not apply to projects that do not receive DoD support, and it does not impose costs on state, local, tribal governments, or the private sector broadly.