The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States unanimously voted on Thursday (April 30) to advance a proposal that would ban all Chinese laboratories from providing testing services for electronic devices imported to the United States, such as smartphones, cameras, and computers.
FCC stated that currently about 75% of American electronic products are tested in China. The FCC plans to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in labs located within the United States or from labs in countries that are not considered national security risks.
Chairman Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission stated in a press release, “A significant achievement in national security last year was our ‘Bad Labs Report & Order’. The core principle is simple: we should not allow foreign adversarial governments or entities sanctioned by the United States to conduct security testing and certification for electronic products in the American market. Therefore, the FCC has taken action to cancel or refuse to recognize 23 ‘bad labs’ controlled by foreign adversarial governments.”
The agency previously announced in September of last year that it rejected certification applications from four labs controlled by the Chinese government. This means that these labs are not allowed to provide testing services for electronic products destined for the United States. The FCC emphasized in their statement at that time that these labs are responsible for “reviewing and approving electronic products used in the United States,” but they ultimately are “owned or controlled by foreign adversarial forces.”
In another vote held on Thursday, the FCC successfully advanced a proposal to ban Chinese telecommunications companies, including China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, from operating data centers in the United States. The FCC may also prohibit telecommunications operators from interconnecting with companies listed on the national security “Covered List.”
Chairman Carr of the FCC stated that the agency is considering a series of actions “to protect our networks from these bad actors, including restricting their interconnectivity.”
In March of this year, the Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on importing all new foreign-made (primarily targeting China) home routers. It is estimated that Chinese manufacturers currently control at least 60% of the home router market in the United States. The FCC cited a review by the White House, indicating that these devices pose a “serious cybersecurity risk that could be exploited to immediately and drastically disrupt critical infrastructure in the United States.”
In addition to routers, the FCC also banned the import of all new models of Chinese-made drones in December of last year.
(Part of this article was referenced from Reuters reporting.)