FCC Votes This Month on Banning Chinese Labs From Testing U.S.-Bound Electronics

Three-quarters of the world's consumer electronics are currently tested in China. The Federal Communications Commission wants to change that, and it is moving fast.

The FCC announced Wednesday it will hold a procedural vote on April 30 on a proposal to bar all Chinese laboratories from certifying electronic devices, including smartphones, cameras, and computers, for sale in the United States. The action would extend a ban the agency had previously applied only to labs owned or controlled by the Chinese government, which resulted in 23 facilities being shut out of the approval process. The FCC acknowledged, however, that the substantial majority of China-based test labs are still certifying U.S.-bound electronics under the current, narrower rules.

The commission laid out a two-step sequence. First, it will vote to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in domestic laboratories or in facilities located in countries not classified as national-security risks. That track would run in parallel with, and eventually precede, a final vote on the comprehensive prohibition against all Chinese lab testing. Public comments would be collected before the agency issues a final order.

The April 30 vote fits inside a broader FCC enforcement campaign that has intensified sharply over the past several months. In December, the agency banned the import of all new models of Chinese drones. Last month it extended that logic to Chinese-made consumer routers, the devices that link phones, computers, and smart-home gadgets to the internet. The FCC has also maintained a covered list of Chinese telecommunications equipment makers, a roster that has long included Huawei and ZTE, and has previously barred certain Chinese companies from offering telecommunications services in the United States entirely.

The proposed lab ban draws on the same national-security rationale: that untrustworthy testing facilities could allow compromised devices to pass through the conformity-assessment pipeline and reach American networks without meaningful scrutiny. Critics counter that redirecting certification away from China will raise production costs and slow product launches for device makers whose entire supply chains are oriented around Chinese infrastructure. A full prohibition could force manufacturers to invest in compliant testing capacity elsewhere or challenge the rule in federal court.

Hikvision, the Chinese surveillance-camera maker already subject to FCC restrictions, said it opposes the agency's attempt at retroactively removing previous, lawful authorizations, signaling that litigation is a live possibility if the final rule moves forward.

The Chinese embassy in Washington had not responded to the announcement as of Wednesday. With the April 30 procedural vote now on the calendar, the electronics industry faces an accelerating timeline to assess how much of its certification infrastructure sits inside the borders the FCC is preparing to draw.