OET Initiates Recognition Withdrawal Proceedings
On September 8, 2025, the Acting Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) issued a Notice of Intent to begin proceedings to withdraw the FCC's recognition of Chongqing Academy of Information and Communications, also known as Chongqing Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAIC), as an accredited test laboratory.
The action is taken pursuant to section 302(e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and sections 2.951(d)(1) and 2.951(e) of the Commission's rules, established under the Equipment Authorization Integrity Report and Order (ET Docket No. 24-136, FCC 25-27). CAIC has been assigned FCC lab designation number CN1239 and is accredited under ISO/IEC 17025:2017 by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) under certificate number 4897.01.
National Security and Prohibited Entity Determinations
Under section 2.951(d) of the FCC rules, the Commission must withdraw recognition from any measurement facility that is owned by, controlled by, or subject to the direction of a prohibited entity as defined in section 2.902. Section 2.902 includes entities identified as foreign adversaries by the Secretary of Commerce listed in 15 CFR ยง 791.4, which includes the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The OET made a tentative determination that CAIC is subject to the control and direction of the PRC through Chinese government hierarchies. According to accreditation records, CAIC shares its domain name (caict.ac.cn) with Telecommunication Technology Labs (TTL), a department within the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT). CAICT is a scientific research institute directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), an agency under the State Council of the PRC.
- CAIC has performed compliance testing contributing to more than 170 FCC equipment certifications since its initial accreditation in 2018.
- The lab was last recognized by the FCC on April 9, 2024, with an expiration date of April 8, 2026.
- CAIC is recognized to test unintentional radiators, ISM equipment, intentional radiators, UPCS, U-NII devices, Commercial Mobile Services, General Mobile Radio Services, Citizens Broadband Radio Services, and RF Exposure.
Response Requirements and Next Steps
CAIC has been given until October 14, 2025, to submit a written response showing why the Commission should not begin proceedings to withdraw its recognition.
The response must be filed in English in ET Docket No. 25-268 via the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) and emailed to OET staff. The filing must fully address the ownership and control questions and include supporting official business documents, English translations, and sworn declarations conforming to section 1.16 of the FCC rules.