Overview
Update: On August 20, 2026, the FCC issued a significant update to its Covered List restrictions on foreign-produced power inverters. Read the full update here.
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The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has updated its "covered list" of equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to US national security to include four broad categories of consumer and commercial devices:
- Drones. Uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and UAS critical components produced in a foreign country (Public Notice, DA 25-1086, released December 22, 2025). The definition of critical components includes data-transmission devices, communications systems, flight controllers, ground-control equipment, navigation systems, sensors and cameras, batteries and battery-management systems, motors, and associated software.
- Routers. Consumer-grade routers produced in a foreign country (Public Notice, DA 26-278, released March 23, 2026).
- Power inverters. Foreign-produced power inverters (Public Notice, DA 26-786, released July 28, 2026) defined as a connected device or system that converts direct current electricity to alternating current electricity or vice versa. Update (August 20, 2026): The FCC has issued a significant update to these restrictions. Read the full update here.
- Advanced robotic devices. Foreign-produced advanced robotic devices (Public Notice, DA 26-786, released July 28, 2026) including mobile robots such as humanoid and quadruped platforms.
The covered list had previously been focused on individual companies rather than categories of equipment, so the inclusion of the above broad types of equipment represents a marked expansion of the scope of the covered list.
This shift has significant ramifications for device manufacturers. A covered List entry operates as a de facto market-entry ban for new device models in the affected category. Equipment on the covered list may not receive a new FCC equipment authorization (47 C.F.R. §§ 2.903(a)), and every equipment authorization applicant must certify that its device is not on the covered list (47 C.F.R. § 2.911(d)(5)). Therefore, for devices that require authorization before importation or marketing, being in one of the above four categories can block new models from the US market even when the manufacturer itself is not named on the list.
There are three important limitations to the above:
- First, the restrictions are prospective: devices that already have an FCC authorization may generally continue to be imported, marketed, sold, and used, and consumers' existing devices are unaffected.
- Second, because the device categories are defined by place of production rather than by named entity, the FCC has clarified that manufacturers of these devices are not thereby "identified on the Covered List," and the various FCC rules and programs that attach to listed entities are not triggered.
- Third, the Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has issued waivers permitting software and firmware updates to previously authorized covered devices so that consumers are not stranded with unpatched hardware.
Legal background:
Each of the four categorical inclusions to the covered list were made following a National Security Determination transmitted to the FCC by an Executive Branch interagency body that includes the national security agencies identified in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019. Once such a determination is made, the FCC's role is non-discretionary. See 47 CFR § 1.50003.
Conditional approvals:
There is a safety valve for companies that wish to continue importing devices in one of the covered list categories. Under the "Conditional Approval" process, manufacturers or importers of covered devices may ask the Department of War (DoW) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to determine that a particular device or class of devices does not pose an unacceptable national security risk. When DoW or DHS transmits such a determination to the FCC, the Public Safety Bureau will exempt the approved devices from the covered list, thus restoring their eligibility for equipment authorization.
There are device-specific guidelines for the conditional approval process for each of the four equipment categories, which are discussed in detail on Steptoe's posts for that device type. Broadly speaking, the conditional approval application will need to include: (1) foreign ownership and investor information; (2) manufacturing and supply chain disclosures; and (3) a US manufacturing and onshoring plan. Applications are submitted through the FCC and forwarded to either DoW or DHS. The FCC has so far issued several rounds of conditional approvals for drones and routers.
What manufacturers and importers should do now:
The FCC has proposed to further strength the rules. Among other things, the Commission released a proposal to prohibit authorization of devices incorporating "logic-bearing hardware components" if had the entity produced the device itself it would be prohibited from authorization. The FCC also proposes that any modification or permissive changes by entities identified on the covered list undergo full certification and would clarify that the marketing rules reach any entity (including ecommerce platforms) that market unauthorized equipment.
Some practical steps that a manufacturer or importer could take now include:
- check products against the definitions in the relevant category (as explained further in Steptoe's posts for each device category);
- begin gathering materials for the conditional approval application;
- begin the process for onshoring manufacturing, if applicable; and
- monitor the covered list and FCC public notices, which are frequently updated.
Steptoe has separate pages for each of the covered list device categories:
Steptoe's Telecom and International Trade attorneys can help steer companies through the quickly changing rules surrounding the FCC's covered list. For more information, please contact one of the authors.
