In a decisive move to safeguard America’s communications infrastructure, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially barred labs and certification bodies with links to foreign adversaries — particularly China — from participating in the approval process for electronic devices entering the U.S. market.

The FCC voted on May 22, 2025, to adopt new rules that will not only tighten security around the testing and certification of devices like smartphones, computers, and even baby monitors, but will also shut out any lab or certification body that could be acting under the influence of a foreign government. In plain terms? The U.S. no longer wants potentially compromised labs rubber-stamping the gadgets that Americans rely on every day.

Why Should You Care?

Every device that uses radio signals — from your smartwatch to your Wi-Fi router — has to get the FCC’s stamp of approval before it hits the shelves. However, the FCC doesn’t test the devices themselves. They rely on private, FCC-recognized labs and certification bodies to do it. Until now, those labs were judged mostly on whether they had the technical chops to do the job — not whether they might have a hidden agenda. That changes today.

“Before any electronic devices (like smartphones or computers or baby monitors) can be imported or sold in the U.S., they must be tested at a lab to ensure compliance with FCC regulations,” Carr explained. “If foreign adversaries were to infiltrate this segment of the supply chain, they could exploit it on a broad scale — potentially authorizing compromised equipment, submitting fraudulent compliance documentation, or misappropriating sensitive intellectual property.”

These labs, historically focused on technical compliance — like signal strength or spectrum interference — haven’t been vetted for geopolitical risks. But that’s changing now. “The closer we looked at these labs, the clearer it became that they create a potential loophole in our national security efforts,” Carr said.

“Trusting a Huawei lab to certify that it is not approving prohibited Huawei gear does not sound like a smart bet to me,” he added, pointing to a real-world example where Huawei continued operating a U.S.-authorized lab even after being listed as a national security threat.

The FCC says some of these so-called ‘Bad Labs‘ are connected to Chinese state-owned enterprises and even to the People’s Liberation Army through China’s Military-Civil Fusion program. Many of them have tested thousands of devices destined for American consumers.

What the New Rules Do

The new rules expand the FCC’s power to:

Deny recognition to test labs, certification bodies, and accreditation organizations tied to foreign governments.
Revoke recognition of those already operating under suspect ownership.
Rely on designations from the Department of Defense and Department of Commerce, including the Defense Department’s List of Chinese Military Companies and the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
Publish notices alerting manufacturers and the public when a lab is deemed untrustworthy.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who also voted in favor, emphasized the importance of trust in the system. “The simplest way to make sure our networks are safe is to keep bad equipment out in the first place,” he said. “We now face an increasing risk that adversarial nations will try to sneak insecure and harmful equipment into our networks through our equipment authorization process.”

Starks praised a new directive requiring the FCC to notify manufacturers and the public about untrustworthy labs. “When we identify a TCB (Telecommunications Certifications Bodies), test lab, or accreditation body that is owned, controlled, or subject to the direction of a prohibited entity, we alert manufacturers and the public to stop using them.”

Right now, the FCC estimates that about 75% of all electronics are tested in labs located inside China. That figure raises eyebrows not just for security reasons, but also for economic and strategic ones. According to Carr, the agency will seek public input on reshoring testing capacity to the U.S. “We not only want to make sure that overseas labs are trustworthy, we also want to boost our capacity to test and certify imported electronics here in the United States.”

This decision continues a bipartisan trend of increasing scrutiny over Chinese tech influence in U.S. infrastructure. Citing earlier efforts, Carr pointed out that “In 2019, for instance, under Chairman Pai, the FCC designated Huawei and ZTE as unacceptable threats to our national security… We then followed up on those actions by denying or revoking the authority of risky carriers, like China Mobile and China Telecom, to connect to our networks.”

Under Chairwoman Rosenworcel, the FCC prohibited companies on the “Covered List” from selling new device models in the U.S. This latest step extends that vigilance to the labs that test and certify those very devices.

The Takeaway

By tightening control over who gets to certify your tech, the FCC isn’t just regulating — it’s drawing a red line in defense of national security. The days of potentially compromised labs quietly approving foreign electronics may be coming to a close. “This is a continuation of strong, bipartisan, national security work from the FCC and will put our country in a better position to advance U.S. leadership,” Carr said.