The United States Banned the Sale of Equipment from Huawei, ZTE, Dahua and other Chinese Companies

Daniel ZimmermannNovember 29, 2022

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The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the sale of telecommunications equipment from Chinese companies Huawei Technologies, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology in the United States due to “unacceptable risks to national security.”

The restrictions are being introduced as part of the equipment law signed in November 2021 by US President John Biden.

The FCC has adopted new rules prohibiting the import or sale into the United States of communications equipment that is deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national security. These new rules are an important part of our ongoing efforts to protect the American people from telecommunications-related national security threats.said FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworthel.

The US ban applies not only to the mentioned manufacturers, but also to their subsidiaries and affiliates. However, although the new ban is not retroactive, the FCC reserves the right to revoke previously issued permits to companies.

Let me remind you that US authorities have long accused Huawei of stealing intellectual property, research and development data, and introducing backdoors into their products that could be used for spying operations.

While we have flagged equipment as a national security risk, prohibited the use of federal funds to purchase it, and even supported programs to replace it, over the past few years the FCC has continued to approve this equipment through an authorization process. That doesn’t make any sense. After all, what is the use of these lists and these bans if there are still other possibilities for the presence of this equipment in our networks.writes Rosenworth.

In fact, the new rules mean that the FCC will ban white label approval of products made by the five listed Chinese suppliers. The FCC also changed the authorization rules, now requiring applicants to have an agent in the United States.

It must be said that in recent years, the telecommunications technologies of Huawei (in particular related to 5G) and ZTE have been banned in many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan, the United States, Canada, Romania and the United Kingdom.

And Washington has previously banned Huawei from supplying systems to the US government and has strongly advised against using the company’s equipment in the private sector, fearing that it could be used by Chinese authorities. The accusations of cyber espionage against the Chinese authorities were quite serious.

Four years ago, some EU members also raised concerns about possible security risks associated with Huawei and ZTE technology and equipment, and excluded the companies from bidding on various projects. However, it did not come to a complete ban in Europe.

In addition, all previously listed Chinese companies have already been included in a special list of telecommunications equipment and service providers that are prohibited from buying parts and components from US companies without special government approval, and they are not eligible for funding from the FCC.

Interestingly, at the same time with the US ban, in the UK Parliament instructed government departments to stop placing Chinese CCTV cameras at “secret sites”, including government buildings and military bases.

British officials said Chinese-made cameras should not be plugged into mains networks and government departments should consider removing and replacing existing equipment prior to “scheduled upgrades”.

Let me remind you that also earlier Experts concerned about Europe’s dependence on Chinese Nuctech security scanners.

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