President Biden signed into law a measure that will bar the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from assessing or issuing authorization for equipment that poses a national security risk.
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., advanced the Secure Equipment Act of 2021 in Congress, the White House said Friday.
“With President Biden’s signature, we are taking strong action to protect our nation from global technological threats that can undermine our future prosperity. I look forward to now working with the President and every member of the FCC to implement this critical measure,” said Markey.
The law will preclude FCC from issuing licenses to companies included in its list of covered communications equipment or services, particularly products made by Huawei, Hytera, ZTE, Dahua, Hikvision and other Chinese state-backed companies.
“The Secure Equipment Act of 2021 will improve our safety as a nation by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of FCC.
Eshoo and Scalise proposed the legislation in June a month after Rubio and Markey introduced a similar measure in the Senate.
