FCC Continues Deauthorization of Testing Laboratories Having Ties with Foreign Adversaries

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken its second set of enforcement actions to address the threats posed by “bad labs.” These are labs that review and approve electronics for use in the U.S. but are ultimately owned or controlled by a foreign adversary. Specifically, the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) sent letters denying applications for lab recognition from four labs controlled by the government of China. This week’s denials follow the Commission’s action earlier this month targeting 11 other “bad labs.” Altogether, the FCC has now begun proceedings to withdraw recognition or denied applications from 15 China-controlled “bad labs”.

The four labs are CCIC-CSA International Certification Co., Ltd, the Industrial Internet Innovation Center (Shanghai); State Radio Monitoring Center; and Reliability Laboratory – New H3C Technologies Co. Ltd.

“President Trump is leading the charge to reshore America’s industrial capacity and safeguard our critical supply chains from foreign adversary nations. Today’s FCC action on ‘Bad Labs’ will continue to do just that,” said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. “Foreign adversary governments should not own and control the labs that test the devices the FCC certifies as safe for the U.S. market. This is an important step in restoring trust in the Commission’s equipment authorization process, and combatting foreign adversary threats. I commend OET, the Enforcement Bureau, and the agency’s Council on National Security for their work on this action.”

“Foreign adversary governments should not own and control the labs that test the devices the FCC certifies as safe for the U.S. market,” said FCC Chair Brendan Carr. “This is an important step in restoring trust in the Commission’s equipment authorization process.”

The FCC’s latest action follows similar enforcement measures earlier in the month when the Commission withdrew recognition or denied applications from 15 different testing laboratories.