US FCC Proposes Ban on Chinese Labs from Participating in US Equipment Certification Testing
nashnova research
The FCC will vote October 29 on a rule restricting device certification testing to U.S. and reciprocal-agreement labs. Chinese labs currently handle 83% of all FCC certifications — making the U.S. testing pipeline for consumer electronics a candidate for wholesale restructuring.
83% of certifications done in China — what does that number mean?
In 2025, Chinese labs processed 38,491 of the 46,402 FCC device certification applications — roughly 83% of the total.
U.S. domestic labs handled just 1,631, about 4%.
This means → America's certification system is overwhelmingly dependent on Chinese testing capacity. Cutting it off leaves a gap that cannot be closed quickly.
Why is the FCC acting now — and what reasons does it cite?
The FCC says it lacks confidence in test results from economies without a reciprocal recognition framework, and has found systemic patterns of non-compliance.
In plain terms = China does not let U.S. labs perform equivalent certifications on its soil; the FCC calls that an uneven arrangement. Some Chinese labs have also failed quality checks.
The agency adds that offshore migration of testing has created excessive concentration in the device-authorization program, making oversight harder.
How does this differ from earlier actions?
Last year the FCC adopted a "problem lab" rule barring entities deemed national-security threats from owning or controlling test labs; 29 labs lost FCC accreditation as a result.
Between September and October 2025, the FCC moved to revoke or deny accreditation for 15 labs under Beijing's control.
This reflects a widening scope — from "government-linked" to "all Chinese labs." In April the FCC signaled it wanted to cover every Chinese lab, not just state-owned or military-tied ones.
If it passes, when does it take effect?
Should the October 29 open meeting approve the order, all testing, certification, and accreditation must move to the U.S. or reciprocal economies by December 1, 2028.
This means → the industry has roughly three years to adjust. The key question is whether U.S. domestic lab capacity can scale up fast enough to absorb the volume.
What is the real-world impact on industry?
FCC Chair Brendan Carr says offshore testing has "cut American jobs and domestic industry."
The DOJ's National Security Division warns that adversaries could exploit test labs as a vulnerability to "infiltrate American networks at scale."
In plain terms = this is not just a trade-reciprocity issue — it is a national-security concern. Every device certified for the U.S. market passes through a testing step that could become a potential security entry point.
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