FCC moves to close the Covered List's hardware-component loophole

At its July 22 open meeting, the FCC takes up a Third Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would bar equipment authorization for devices containing “logic-bearing” hardware components produced by Covered List entities — Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, DJI, and Autel — closing what the Commission calls the “component part loophole.”

Today’s rules block finished devices from the named firms; this pushes the prohibition down to the component level, into the supply chain of otherwise-unlisted products. The same item would reach the marketing rules to online marketplaces — requiring them to display the FCC ID at the point of sale — demand full certification for any modification made by a Covered List entity, and adopt a narrowed, statutorily-grounded definition of “critical infrastructure.”

It is a national-security action more than a trust-and-identity one, but it rhymes with the beat: provenance and authentication moving from the finished endpoint down to the parts inventory, because attesting to the device is no longer enough. The Third FNPRM opens a fresh comment window; the filing-by-filing detail is Regulatory Watch territory.