FCC adopts order closing 'component part loophole' for Covered List entities

The Inside Global Tech blog, in its quarterly update on AI, connected vehicles and the Internet of Things for the third quarter of 2026, reports that the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Third Report and Order and a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 22 July. The blog describes the Order as closing what it calls the component part loophole affecting the FCC's Covered List.

Under the Order, the FCC will refuse equipment authorization to any device that contains logic-bearing hardware components made by a Covered List entity, where the same device made by that entity directly would be barred. The Order also clarifies that marketing rules extend to online marketplaces, that now have to show the FCC ID where products are sold, requires full recertification when a Covered List entity makes modifications or limited permissive changes, and narrows how critical infrastructure is defined for the Covered List.

The Further Notice proposes that companies seeking equipment authorization for specified devices provide signed bills of materials, for both hardware and software, naming where each component comes from and who made it, with the aim of tightening supply-chain security.

The blog also notes related Covered List activity in the quarter. On 28 July, following national security determinations by an interagency body of the Executive branch, the FCC placed two further kinds of foreign-made equipment on the list: advanced robotic devices, such as certain humanoid, quadruped and other mobile robots, and connected power inverters. Since 28 July, these robots and inverters cannot receive equipment authorization without Conditional Approval from a designated Executive agency, although previously authorized models may still be imported, sold and used. The FCC later clarified that only inverters able to supply power to a utility are covered.