FCC Initiates Proceeding To Identify Foreign Adversary Ownership in All Commission Licenses and Authorizations

Key Points

• The FCC initiates this proceeding to protect the nation’s communications infrastructure from foreign threats by proposing to expand foreign ownership disclosure requirements for covered Commission-issued licenses and authorizations.
• The proposals are intended to give the Commission, and the public, a new and comprehensive view of entities holding licenses and authorizations in the communications sector that are subject to the ownership, jurisdiction, direction, or control of a foreign adversary.

Foreign Adversary Ownership NPRM

On May 22, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) unanimously voted to adopt a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes to require entities holding FCC licenses, authorizations and approvals to disclose whether they are owned by, controlled by or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. The proposal would require entities to disclose all ownership interests of 5% or greater to the Commission and the nature of their reportable foreign adversary control. The outcome of this rulemaking proceeding may result in more formal processes for how the FCC tracks and assesses foreign ownership or control over entities that hold any type of Commission license, authorization or permit.

This alert highlights five key areas that the Commission seeks comment on in the NPRM.

First, the Commission seeks comment on the scope of the entities that should be subject to the proposed certification and information collection requirements. The Commission proposes to go beyond foreign ownership and instead apply the proposed requirements to any “person owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary” as defined in 15 CFR section 791.2 of the Department of Commerce’s rules. In a similar vein, the Commission, in accordance with that same rule section, proposes to define “foreign adversary” as “any foreign government or foreign non-government person determined by the Secretary [of Commerce] to have engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons.”

Second, the Commission proposes to apply the certification and information requirements, as detailed below, to a wide array of licenses, authorizations and other approvals that fall within a “Covered Authorization.” A “Covered Authorization,” as proposed, includes those required for wireless, satellite, media, submarine cable, and telephone and common carrier operations as well as those required for FCC auctions, equipment certifications, Data Network Identification Codes, International Signaling Point Codes, Recognized Operating Agencies and Telecommunications Relay Services. The Commission noted that it currently collects foreign ownership information for some of these Covered Authorizations, but has “never done a comprehensive survey across all Covered Authorizations, nor collected control information beyond ownership.”

Third, the NPRM proposes to require entities holding a Covered Authorization to certify whether it is or is not owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. If an entity’s certification indicates that it is controlled by a foreign adversary, the Commission proposes to require that entity also (1) disclose all ownership interests of 5% or greater as well as the nature of their reportable foreign adversary control, and (2) file an initial certification within 30 days of any changes to ownership involving a foreign adversary or a new ownership interest of 5% or greater.

Fourth, the Commission seeks comment on its proposals to collect this data through a single, consolidated system during a specified 60-day window, and to adopt a streamlined revocation procedure in the event an entity falsely certifies or fails to complete the certification and provide ownership information.

Finally, the Commission seeks comment on the costs and benefits associated with the proposed requirements, and on its tentative conclusions that it has broad authority to apply the certification and information collection requirements discussed briefly herein to entities holding every type of license, permit or authorization issued by the Commission.

Takeaways

The initiation of this proceeding, considered together with the Commission’s separate action to adopt new rules aimed at strengthening requirements and oversight relating to telecommunications certification bodies, measurement facilities and accreditation bodies, reflect the FCC’s ever-growing focus on foreign ownership deemed to pose a national security risk. In addition, both the House and the Senate have recently been considering initiatives—the bipartisan Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency (FACT) Act—that would direct the Commission to publish a list of regulated entities linked to foreign adversaries. The Commission’s proposals advanced in this NPRM would thus allow the FCC to “hit[] the ground running to implement this important initiative,” as expressed by Chairman Carr in his statement.

Comments and reply comments will be due 30 days and 60 days, respectively, from the date of this item’s publication in the Federal Register. We are tracking updates to the space closely, so please reach out if you would like to comment on the proceeding.