By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected a bid by Hikvision to lift a 2022 bar by the Federal Communications Commission on approvals of new video surveillance and telecommunications equipment produced by the Chinese manufacturer.
Hikvision had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to require the FCC to lift an administrative freeze that prevents Hikvision from submitting any applications for equipment authorization, citing a 2024 ruling from the court.
Hikvision said in a court filing that the ban is “causing enormous harm to the company” and it is losing an unspecified amount of money.
The company did not immediately comment.
In the court filing, Hikvision said that the existing order prevents it from seeking FCC approval even for non-connected devices like vacuum cleaners or warehouse robots.
The FCC this month urged the court to reject the request from Hikvision, saying the court’s 2024 ruling only required the FCC to revise its definition of critical infrastructure and did not require it to consider specific equipment authorizations.
The court did not lift a requirement that Hikvision have an approved compliance plan before the FCC will authorize its telecommunications or video surveillance equipment.
A number of Chinese companies have filed lawsuits over restrictions by U.S. government agencies, including China-based drone maker DJI, which challenged the U.S. Defense Department adding it to a list of companies allegedly working with Beijing’s military.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
