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The commission announced that it will vote on a new rule at the end of this month that will exclude all Chinese test labs from reviewing and certifying electronic devices sold in the United States
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) crackdown on Chinese entities continues, as the commission announced last week that it is now moving to bar all Chinese testing facilities from certifying electronic devices like computers, smartphones, fitness trackers, network gear, baby monitors, and IoT sold in the U.S..
“As part of the Commission’s continuing efforts to promote national security and support law enforcement, the Commission has taken action to address the present and persistent threats that ‘foreign adversaries’ pose from within the nation’s communications networks,” the FCC proposal read.
Reshoring testing
In the recent times, the FCC has taken a series of actions to bar entities that are owned or controlled by the Chinese governments in its effort to tight supply chain security rules. In May, 2025, it blocked and removed testing bodies with ties to the Chinese government and other state-backed agencies to mitigate national security risks. The commission categorizes these as “bad labs.”
“The FCC has reviewed currently recognized labs and found that a number of labs potentially
have deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These include entities that are connected
to Chinese state-owned-enterprises, involved in China’s Military-Civil Fusion apparatus through
their apparent work with the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army, and even entities that are
themselves Chinese state actors. These labs have tested thousands of devices bound for the U.S.
market over the last several years,” it said in a notice last year.
The FCC requires all devices using radio frequency to be tested and validated for compliance with its rules before they are sold in the U.S. market. This certification is conducted by labs around the world that met U.S. regulators’ requirements.
“So far 75% of those testings take place inside China,” FCC chair, Brendan Carr, said in May, last year. “We are looking at steps to reshore a lot of that testing, and that’ll help give U.S. manufacturers a boost,”
Competitive shift
Only 23 labs were affected during the previous ban, according to Reuters. The new effort marks a serious escalation from that, as the commission moves to impose a broader ban on Chinese labs. Beyond China, the rule will also impact countries without reciprocal testing agreements with the United States.
Some see the FCC’s ambition to reshore testing back to the U.S. by 2030 to be overly optimistic, and expects the rule to create a bottleneck if it goes into effect. Currently, less than 10% FCC-approved labs are based in the U.S.
The rule is set to shake up the test market, currently valued at $28 billion, causing overflow test work to go to Taiwan that has been building capacity for years, as well as Japan and the U.K. where companies like SpaceX and Apple have already shifted their certification work. Meanwhile, smaller electronics manufacturers will be hit hard with increased test costs and reduced access.
The commission separately said it will vote to streamline the approval process for devices tested within the United States or in certain other countries.
The move comes after the FCC recently banned import and sale of foreign-made consumer routers in the U.S., and Chinese drone models in December, citing national security concerns.
“Malicious actors have exploited security gaps in foreign-made routers to attack American households, disrupt networks, enable espionage, and facilitate intellectual property theft..Foreign-made routers were also involved in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks targeting vital US infrastructure,” the FCC wrote, adding that only those deemed safe by Department of War (DoW) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be exempted,” the commission had wrote in the notice.
The FCC will vote on the new rule at an open meeting on April 30, and is currently taking comments.
