On Friday, May 23, the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) released a Public Notice requesting public input on whether certain CAV-related communications equipment and services with connections to Russia and the People’s Republic of China should be added to the “Covered List” – a list maintained by the FCC of communications equipment and services found to pose an unacceptable risk to national security and the security and safety of U.S. persons. This Public Notice follows the January 2025 Rule from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) that restricted transactions involving connected vehicle hardware or software that have certain defined connections to China or Russia, as covered by this client alert. Comments on the FCC’s proposal are due on June 9.
The FCC’s rules require its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to update the Covered List if certain sources, including the Department of Commerce, determine that the equipment or services pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security. The Covered List is made available to the public on the FCC’s website, and any radiofrequency-emitting equipment identified on the Covered List is prohibited from receiving an equipment authorization from the FCC. Equipment authorization is required in order to import, market, or sell such equipment in the United States.
Based on BIS’s findings in adopting the BIS Rule, the Public Notice proposes adding two categories to the Covered List:
“(1) automated driving systems (ADS) and completed connected vehicles designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the People’s Republic of China, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region, (PRC), or the Russian Federation (Russia); and
“(2) vehicle connectivity systems (VCS) hardware designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the PRC or Russia and intended to be included within a completed connected vehicle in the United States; or VCS hardware with integrated covered software designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the PRC or Russia.”
The FCC “tentatively assess[ed]” that the first category would not be directly subject to the Covered List’s prohibitions on equipment authorizations because completed connected vehicles are generally not radiofrequency devices for which FCC authorization is sought. However, the FCC states that the second category likely would include equipment subject to the equipment authorization process because VCS hardware generally requires FCC equipment authorization. The FCC proposes criteria for and seeks input on what kind of VCS hardware equipment should be considered “intended to be included within a completed connected vehicle.”
The FCC seeks input on whether the Covered List should be updated (and if so, whether that update should happen now, notwithstanding that certain BIS Rule requirements will not go into effect for some time), whether the above categories correctly reflect the Commerce Department’s determination, and whether the categories would be subject to Covered List’s prohibitions on equipment authorizations. The FCC also seeks input on how to align certain regulatory requirements for entities “named” or “identified” on the Covered List, given that this update would not name or identify specific entities.
The FCC is not required to provide the opportunity for input on updates to the Covered List and has not done so before. However, the Public Notice states that “because this would be the first addition that does not include the names of specific entities, we believe that offering an opportunity for public input will help promote transparency and good governance.”