A draft rule up for a July 22 commission vote would block equipment authorization for any product containing digital components from Covered List suppliers like Huawei and ZTE, with a 9 kHz threshold defining which parts qualify and online marketplaces drawn into the enforcement…
The Federal Communications Commission's Secure Networks Act framework has kept devices from Huawei, ZTE, and a handful of other Chinese-origin vendors off American networks. A draft rule now up for a July 22 commission vote would shift that line of defense from the brand on the box to the silicon inside it.
If adopted, the proposal would block equipment authorization for any product containing "covered parts" (digital components such as processors, modules, and data-handling chips) made by companies on the FCC's Covered List, which currently names Huawei, ZTE, Hikvision, Dahua, and Hytera among the entities deemed unacceptable national-security risks. The agency calls this closing a "component part loophole" in the Secure Networks Act framework.
The mechanism that does the work is technical. The draft defines covered parts as digital components operating above 9 kilohertz that process, store, retrieve, transfer, or control data. That frequency tracks the FCC's lowest regulated spectrum threshold under the existing rules. Tying component coverage to that line would catch the chips and modules that handle network and data functions across consumer electronics, industrial equipment, and telecom gear, while leaving purely passive analog components outside the rule's reach.
The practical effect is a widening of who has to certify what. A manufacturer that today can ship a U.S.-branded product with a Huawei cellular module inside would, under the draft, lose equipment authorization for the whole device. The obligation would extend downstream as well. The proposal pulls online marketplaces into the enforcement surface, defining them as engaged in "marketing" regulated equipment when they provide warehousing, fulfillment, billing, packaging, or order processing services alongside a listing. Those marketplaces would also be required to display FCC IDs of certified devices at the point of sale so buyers and regulators can verify authorization.
The shift builds on a parallel Notice of Proposed Rulemaking the Federal Register published on December 4, 2025, titled "Protecting Against National Security Threats to the Communications Supply Chain Through the Equipment Authorization Program." That earlier proposal laid the procedural groundwork; the current draft is the more concrete step that defines what counts as a covered part and who counts as a regulated seller.
The commission has not yet acted. The FCC's June 30 blog post on the draft is explicit that the proposal "does not constitute any official action" pending the July 22 vote. Reporting from Epoch Times and PRISM News on the rule's intent should be read alongside the FCC's own text rather than as substitutes for it; whether their characterizations of the 9 kHz scope match the official draft remains to be confirmed once the item is published.
For procurement officers, integrators, and component distributors, the open questions are concrete. Cellular modules, router chipsets, and surveillance-focused systems-on-chip sit closest to the substitution pressure, given how heavily the Covered List entities have populated those supply lines. How the rule handles existing products with Covered List components already in distribution, and any transition language in the official item when published, will determine how quickly the substitution deadline binds.