What it does The opinion holds that the Secure Equipment Act (SEA) ratified the composition of the FCC’s Covered List as it existed when Congress enacted the statute, foreclosing a renewed challenge to the prior inclusion of Petitioners’ products. The court therefore upheld the equipment-authorization ban insofar as it applies to video-surveillance and telecommunications equipment used for public safety, government-facility security, physical security surveillance of critical infrastructure, or other national-security purposes. It vacated the definition treating any systems or assets “connected to” sixteen Presidential Policy Directive 21 sectors or fifty-five CISA/NRMC functions as critical infrastructure, finding that formulation unexplained, overbroad, and arbitrary and capricious.

Who it affects The ruling directly affects Hikvision and Dahua, their U.S. marketing and sales of covered equipment, and the FCC’s administration of equipment authorizations. It also constrains the FCC’s interpretation of critical infrastructure under the NDAA and SEA.

Why it matters The decision confirms that Congress’s reference to the existing Covered List in the SEA ratified the list’s contents, including Petitioners’ products, while requiring a narrower and better-justified standard for identifying critical infrastructure. The ban remains operative for the covered uses upheld by the court.

Key dates and numbers

• March 12, 2021: FCC published the Covered List including Petitioners’ equipment.
• November 2021: Congress enacted the SEA.
• November 2022: FCC issued the implementing Order.
• December 14, 2023: Oral argument; April 2, 2024: decision.
• Sixteen PPD-21 sectors and fifty-five CISA/NRMC functions were rejected as an unexplained basis for a sweeping “connected to” definition.