Building upon this, the FCC released a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule-making on May 1, 2025, that will be addressed at the May 2025 Open Commission meeting on May 22, 2025. These actions signal potentially significant upcoming changes to equipment authorization processes in the United States.
The FCC will adopt rules through this Report and Order to bolster the integrity of entities involved in the Commission’s equipment authorization program.
Key aspects of the Report and Order:
- Prohibition of Entities: The FCC will prohibit the recognition of, and withdraw existing recognition from, Telecommunications Certification Bodies (TCBs) or test laboratories owned or controlled by a "prohibited entity."
- Definition of "Prohibited Entity": This term will encompass any entity identified on various government lists related to national security threats. These lists include, but are not limited to, the FCC Covered List, the Department of Defense Chinese Military Company List, and the Executive Branch’s list of "foreign adversaries."
- Ownership and Control Reporting: The FCC will implement reporting and certification requirements to facilitate the determination of ownership and control of relevant entities.
- Subsidiary and Affiliate Information: Any entity specifically named on the Covered List will be required to provide information regarding all of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
- Strengthening TCBs and Test Labs: Several additional rules will be adopted to enhance the integrity of TCBs, test laboratories, and laboratory accreditation bodies.
Key aspects of the Further Notice of Proposed Rule-making:
- Expansion of Prohibitions: The FCC seeks comments on whether to extend the newly adopted prohibitions to entities under the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary. It also seeks input on expanding the definition of "prohibited entities" to include additional lists from federal agencies or statutes.
- Encouraging Domestic and Allied Testing: The FCC requests further comment on methods to facilitate and encourage more equipment authorization testing to be conducted at test laboratories located within the United States or in allied countries.
- TCB Post-Market Surveillance: The FCC proposes revisions to TCB post-market surveillance procedures.
- TCB-Test Lab Relationships: The FCC proposes to restrict relationships between TCBs and the test laboratories for which the TCB reviews applications.
- Accredited Labs for Supplier's Declaration of Conformity: The FCC proposes to mandate the use of FCC-recognized accredited test laboratories for authorizations based on a Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity.
References:
- https://www.fcc.gov/May2025
- https://www.fcc.gov/document/safeguarding-equipment-authorization-process-bad-labs
- https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-proposes-national-security-protections-equipment-program-0
- https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-411202A1.pdf
- https://www.emcrules.com/2024/05/fcc-vote-on-bad-labs-ban-proposal.html
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