FCC test-lab rule adds a location-and-reciprocity test to its ownership ban
From 1 December 2028 the FCC will recognise only test labs in the United States or in countries that return the favour, on top of the 2025 ownership ban. Chairman Carr puts 82.3 percent of testing in China.
The Federal Communications Commission voted on 29 October to stop recognising test labs, certification bodies and accreditation bodies outside the United States unless their country gives US labs reciprocal recognition. The FCC news release says that "starting December 1, 2028, all testing, certifying, and accreditation activities will occur in the U.S. or a Reciprocal Economy."
What changes, and what stays
The 2025 "Bad Labs" rules restricted recognition based on prohibited ownership or control. The new rules add a condition based on where an entity operates and whether that economy gives reciprocal recognition. The release says the new rules "follow" the 2025 ones. The unpublished order text would show how the two fit.
China accounts for the largest share of testing in Carr's figures. It therefore has the largest exposure if it is excluded. The rule's stated eligibility condition applies across economies and does not name China.
The 2025 order, FCC 25-27, made every recognised lab, certification body and accreditation body certify that no prohibited entity owns or controls it. The FCC's release says those rules led to 29 labs losing recognition. The same order declined to bar labs in countries without a mutual recognition agreement, or MRA, and said it "may revisit this decision."
What the order says and where it stands
Carr's statement defines the new category as "those places that are willing to recognize U.S.-based testing." In May 2026 the FCC proposed ending recognition in countries that are neither MRA partners nor trade agreement participants. Under that proposal its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) would publish a list of Reciprocal Economies. The proposal also recorded that OET "has recognized hundreds of test labs based in non-MRA countries."
The order is FCC 26-73, in ET Docket No. 24-136. Carr and Commissioners Gomez and Trusty adopted it by a 3 to 0 vote. It is adopted but not yet in force, and the Federal Register had not published it by 30 October.
Where testing happens today
Carr says that "only 3.6% of testing occurs in the United States, while 82.3% occurs in China." The release gives the US figure as less than 4 percent of devices.
Chairman Carr's statement of 29 October 2026 says 82.3 percent of testing occurs in China and 3.6 percent in the United States. The remaining 14.1 percent is CTOL arithmetic (100 minus 82.3 minus 3.6) and covers every other location.
View data
| Location of testing | Share of testing, percent |
|---|---|
| China | 82.3 |
| United States | 3.6 |
| All other locations (CTOL arithmetic) | 14.1 |
Carr's figures leave 14.1 percent of testing outside China and the United States, on CTOL's arithmetic. That residual covers every other location. It does not split eligible economies from ineligible ones. Carr gives no period beyond "today".
Carr's 82.3 percent measures current exposure, not the volume that will move. Whether the rule removes that testing depends on whether China is classed as a Reciprocal Economy.
Reuters reported the vote as a ban on all Chinese labs. The FCC's release and statements use the term "Reciprocal Economies" and set the same condition for every country.
How the FCC explains it
Commissioner Trusty's statement gives the wider picture: "the majority of radiofrequency devices entering the United States are tested in countries where we have no reciprocal agreements." Her point is oversight. The order, she says, "ends our reliance on test labs, telecommunications certification bodies, and accreditation bodies in non-reciprocal countries."
The release rests the integrity case on three principles. The FCC says it lacks confidence in testing in non-Reciprocal Economies, where it has "observed a pattern of egregious violations", and that overconcentration threatens the program. It adds that reciprocity is fair trade.
The conduct evidence in the release is narrow. The FCC withdrew recognition from two labs in non-Reciprocal Economies. It began the process for two more, where labs had "copied-and-pasted test results." These enforcement actions are separate from the new rule. From 1 December 2028 the geographic condition applies to labs in non-reciprocal economies regardless of their individual compliance records.
Carr adds an industrial argument. He says unfair foreign competition "gutted the U.S. testing industry" and "accelerated the offshoring of electronics manufacturing, which is often collocated where devices are tested." He also calls the rule "a return to the commonsense approach of years past", since the FCC in the 1990s recognised only US labs or labs in MRA countries.
Earlier rules and industry views
A separate FCC rule gives priority review to devices tested in designated "Trusted Test Labs." The final rule on Trusted Labs has been in force since 15 June 2026 and also changes surveillance after sale. That preference operates alongside the new geographic condition, and the two criteria are not equivalent.
The history behind the shift is specific. A 2014 FCC action created the process for accredited labs in countries without an operating MRA. Before it, such labs were not recognised. The 2025 order counted 39 recognised certification bodies, 23 in the US and 16 in seven MRA countries. It also recorded 24 foreign laboratory accreditation bodies in 23 MRA partner countries.
In 2025 the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) warned that restricting non-MRA labs "could negatively impact the global information and communications technology market, interfere with international trade agreements, and negatively affect U.S. competitiveness." That warning predates the adopted rule and covers a related but not identical category of labs. The May 2026 proposal cites the Hudson Institute and RF Safety Laboratory as urging tighter limits on recognising labs outside MRA countries.
The timetable
From adoption on 29 October 2026 to 1 December 2028 is 764 days, about 25 months. Trusty says the timeline gives "manufacturers time to adjust." The regulatory deadline and the eligibility criteria stay outside manufacturers' control. The order also carries a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on further measures on oversight, modernising equipment authorisation and protecting intellectual property.
What comes next
CTOL's view is that the rule's practical reach depends on which economies qualify as reciprocal. The FCC release, Carr and Trusty all frame the condition as reciprocity. The May 2026 proposal would have OET publish that list, and the adopted order's unpublished text must confirm the final mechanism. If China is excluded, testing performed there would no longer satisfy the geographic recognition condition from 1 December 2028.
Two disclosures matter. The first is Federal Register publication of FCC 26-73, which sets effective dates and the Third Further Notice's comment dates. The second is the OET list, if adopted, and whether it includes China. Beyond those sits the 1 December 2028 compliance deadline.