A policy control method, an apparatus, and a system, where the method includes: receiving, by a session management network element, a first message from a terminal device, where the first message includes a quality of service (QoS) rule identifier and a first operation indication; sending, by the session management network element, a second message to a policy control network element, where the second message includes a policy and charging control (PCC) rule identifier corresponding to the QoS rule identifier and a second operation indication corresponding to the first operation indication; and receiving, by the policy control network element, the second message, and performing, by the policy control network element on a PCC rule corresponding to the PCC rule identifier, a second operation indicated by the second operation indication.