What’s the news? Communications companies posing "unacceptable risks" to the United States' national security will now face a limited market stateside. Tech produced by the likes of Huawei, Dahua, Hikvision, Hytera, and ZTE is prohibited from being authorised for import or sale in the US, as per new rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), announced on November 25th. In 2019, 28 Chinese entities were blacklisted from importing American technology by the US Department of Commerce, reportedly for their alleged role in facilitating human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang province. Hikvision and Dahua were on this list too. What is impacted? Specified telecom and video surveillance equipment and services produced by companies on the FCC's "Covered List", published by its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau in pursuit of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, 2019. The Act prohibits "federal subsidies from being used to purchase communications equipment or services posing national security risks". Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, and Dahua Technology find themselves on this list. Their other bedfellows are AO Kaspersky, China Mobile International USA Inc, China Telecom (Americas) Corp, Pacific Network Corp, and China Unicom (Americas) Operations Limited. How will they be restricted? The rules prohibit future authorisations of blacklisted equipment and services on the Covered List through the FCC's Certification process. Additionally, this equipment cannot be authorised under the "Supplier's Declaration of Conformity", or imported or marketed under rules allowing equipment to be exempted from authorisation. Why do this? To "protect" the…
