The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has announced that routers produced in a foreign country are added to the FCC’s Covered List. Following a determination by an Executive branch interagency group that routers produced in foreign countries pose an unacceptable risk to national security, the Bureau has added them to the Covered List. As such, consumer routers produced in a foreign country will no longer be authorized for use or sale in the United States, unless the FCC has received a determination otherwise from Department of War (DoW) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Additionally, the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) has announced that certain Covered List prohibitions will not apply to foreign-made routers until March 1, 2027, to allow such routers to receive important software and firmware updates to address interim vulnerabilities for previously authorized foreign-made routers.
The up-to-date Covered List can be found here, and the FCC’s OET will re-evaluate whether to extend the waiver prior to expiration.
