FCC plans vote to block U.S. sales of devices with blacklisted parts
The FCC plans a vote next month to bar U.S. sales of devices with blacklisted parts, widening its crackdown from finished gear to hidden supply-chain components.
The Federal Communications Commission plans to vote next month on a rule that would bar U.S. sales of devices containing parts from companies on its blacklist. The move would push the agency beyond finished products and into the deeper supply chains where chips, modules and design work can still flow into smartphones, routers and other consumer electronics.
The proposal targets a gap in current rules: Americans can still buy devices that contain chips designed by Huawei Technologies Company’s HiSilicon unit, even though Huawei itself is on the FCC’s Covered List. The new measure would close that loophole and protect Americans from electronic devices it deems to pose unacceptable risks to U.S. national security.
The Covered List is maintained by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau under section 1.50002 of the FCC’s rules and is rooted in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. It now includes Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company and Kaspersky-related entities.
On Oct. 28, 2025, the FCC closed the “modular transmitter loophole,” which had allowed insecure modular transmitters from Covered List entities to be included inside otherwise lawful devices. In that same action, the FCC sought comment on extending equipment-authorization prohibitions to a broader class of foreign adversary-controlled devices and component parts produced by Covered List entities.
On March 23, 2026, the FCC added all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries to the Covered List. Those routers posed unacceptable national security risks and could create supply-chain vulnerabilities affecting the economy, critical infrastructure and national defense. The action did not affect consumers’ continued use of routers they already owned.
The FCC updated its router FAQs on May 12, 2026, including questions about whether there is a content threshold and whether a U.S.-designed router manufactured abroad is covered. On June 26, 2026, the commission prohibited the continued importation and marketing of certain previously authorized covered communications equipment that had been added to the Covered List in 2024 or earlier.
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