FCC Votes for New Process to Ban Imports of Previously Authorized Telecom Devices
The Federal Communications Commission voted Oct. 28 to “close loopholes” in its restrictions on imports of telecommunications equipment by establishing a process to prohibit imports of previously authorized devices that were subsequently added to the commission’s Covered List of devices that threaten national security, it said in a news release.
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Currently, the restrictions only apply to imports of new Covered List devices, and “agency regulations have not applied those prohibitions to previously authorized devices, permitting their continued importation,” the FCC said.
“The FCC could apply this new rule in a targeted manner,” the release said.
The rules also will “close the modular transmitter loophole -- meaning that certain insecure Huawei, Hikvision, or other Covered List modular transmitters could no longer be included as components within otherwise lawful or authorized devices,” the release said.
And the FCC also adopted a further notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks comments on “extending our equipment authorization prohibitions to a larger class of foreign adversary-controlled devices and component parts produced by Covered List entities, as well as various measures to strengthen enforcement against unlawful marketing of covered equipment,” it said.