Group Urges Further Tightening of FCC's Supply Chain Rules

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies urged the FCC on Monday to take additional steps to ensure that devices from Chinese companies aren’t sold in the U.S. The agency’s 2022 order preventing the sale of yet-to-be authorized equipment (see 2211230065) has gaps, the group said in a report posted in docket 21-232.

“Identical devices that received authorization before the effective date remain legal for sale, deployment, and operation indefinitely,” it said. “This regulatory gap creates a false sense of security.” The FCC doesn’t have a “systematic risk-based framework for revoking equipment authorizations in connection to Covered List entities,” the filing said. Also, “the ambiguities in how the FCC defines equipment ‘produced by’ a covered entity allows adversaries to bypass controls by supplying critical components rather than finished products.” Without a comprehensive ownership and control standard, “adversaries will continue to infiltrate supply chains even when final products seem to be sourced from approved manufacturers.”