Earlier this week, on August 25, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued a Public Notice seeking public comment on how the agency might increase and improve spectrum access for commercial space launch and reentry activities. The Public Notice follows through on a directive in the Trump Administration’s National Space Transportation Policy memorandum issued last week. Comments are due Monday, September 14, 2026 and reply comments are due Thursday, September 24, 2026.
Continue Reading FCC Seeks Public Comment on Improving Spectrum Access for Commercial Space Launch and Reentry OperationsTechnology
FCC Narrows Covered List Definition of “Power Inverters” and Clarifies Meaning of “Foreign-Produced”
By Devin DeBacker, Yaron Dori, Matthew DelNero & Corey Walker on
Posted in National Security, Technology
Yesterday, following a second National Security Determination from the Department of War (“DoW”), the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) clarified the scope of its ban on foreign-produced “power inverters,” a category of devices added to the FCC’s “Covered List” in late July. This new determination revises and narrows the definition of power inverters to more “accurately reflect” the types of inverters that pose unacceptable national security risks—a move that, like its carve-out earlier this year of toy drones from foreign-produced unmanned aircraft systems, may signal a willingness to take a more nuanced approach to defining the classes of devices that pose national security risks. At the same time, this new determination clarifies which of these devices qualify as “foreign-produced,” a move that simultaneously (1) provides an alternate path for an inverter not to be foreign-produced and (2) may signal that the FCC and national security agencies are taking a more limited view of what devices are U.S.-produced and therefore outside the scope of the ban.
Continue Reading FCC Narrows Covered List Definition of “Power Inverters” and Clarifies Meaning of “Foreign-Produced”FCC Restricts Imports of New Foreign-Produced Power Inverters and Advanced Robotic Devices with Additions to its Covered List
By Devin DeBacker, Jennifer Johnson, Matthew DelNero, Michael Wagner, Yaron Dori & Evan Chiacchiaro on
Posted in National Security, Technology
On July 28, 2026, the FCC added foreign-produced power inverters and advanced robotic devices to its Covered List, following determinations by an executive branch interagency body that they pose “unacceptable risks” to the national security of the United States. The new additions continue a string of decisions placing entire categories of foreign-produced devices on the Covered List of restricted equipment—beginning with the FCC’s December 2025 addition of all foreign-produced unmanned aircraft systems (a/k/a drones) and continuing with the March 2026 addition of all foreign-produced routers. The definitions of power inverters and advanced robotic devices are broad, seeming to reach inverters used in electrical systems such as commercial solar, battery, and wind-power projects, home solar and battery systems, and electric-vehicle chargers, and advanced robotic devices such as humanoid and quadruped robots, and robotic vacuums, pool cleaners, and lawn mowers.
Continue Reading FCC Restricts Imports of New Foreign-Produced Power Inverters and Advanced Robotic Devices with Additions to its Covered ListFCC Approves Massive Modernization of Satellite Licensing Regime
By Gerard J. Waldron & Conor Kane on
Posted in Technology
On July 22, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) voted to approve a Report and Order (the “Order”) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “FNPRM”) that will rework and modernize the FCC’s satellite licensing regime. Stating that “[a]chieving American space superiority is critical to our nation’s future,” the Order streamlines the FCC’s satellite application and licensing procedures to support commercial deployment of space infrastructure. The Order also relocates and reorganizes the current part 25 satellite licensing rules to a new part 100. The FNPRM seeks public comment on how the FCC can further modernize its space technology regime. The Order and FNPRM follow a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from October 2025 (the “NPRM”), which we previously covered.
Continue Reading FCC Approves Massive Modernization of Satellite Licensing RegimeFCC Simplifies Broadband Consumer Label Requirements
By Matthew DelNero & Conor Kane on
Posted in Technology
On July 22, the Federal Communications Commission (the “FCC”) approved a Report and Order (the “Order”) to simplify the requirements for the broadband consumer label (the “Label”) that all ISPs have been required to provider to consumers since 2024. The Order is meant to “refocus the rules on ensuring that consumers have the clear, accurate, and concise information about broadband plans” while reducing compliance burdens on providers. See below for a summary of the key updates.
Continue Reading FCC Simplifies Broadband Consumer Label RequirementsUK online safety update: Ofcom’s Category 1 proposals and DSIT’s latest response to “Growing Up in an Online World”
By Jadzia Pierce & Jane Pinho on
On 10 July 2026, Ofcom published a package of draft materials as part of the third phase of its implementation of the Online Safety Act (the “Act”). While the Act already imposes baseline duties to tackle illegal content and to protect children (where a service is likely to be accessed by them) on all regulated user-to-user and search services, the 10 July package provides a set of additional duties targeted at the UK’s largest and most widely used online services.
The package is comprised of three connected strands:
- The Register of Categorised Services. Ofcom published its long-awaited register, formally designating services across Category 1, Category 2A, and Category 2B, together with a list of “emerging” Category 1 services.
- Consultation: Draft Fraudulent Advertising Codes of Practice (Category 1 and 2A): The draft codes of practice set proposed measures for how the largest user-to-user and search services should tackle paid-for fraudulent advertising.
- Consultation: Draft Additional Duties Code of Practice and Guidance (Category 1 only): The draft codes of practice and associated guidance address user empowerment and identity verification, protections for certain public-interest content, terms of service, complaints, and freedom-of-expression and privacy assessments.
This post focuses on the third strand—the additional duties for Category 1 services.
Continue Reading UK online safety update: Ofcom’s Category 1 proposals and DSIT’s latest response to “Growing Up in an Online World”Looking beyond the tech sovereignty package: how the EU is moving to ensure tech sector resilience
By Paul Maynard, Jadzia Pierce & Sam Jungyun Choi on
On 3 June 2026, the European Commission published several legislative and policy measures wrapped up in one “tech sovereignty” package (see our posts summarising the package as a whole here, and diving deeper into the Cloud and AI Development Act here). But the EU’s tech sovereignty drive has a long history, and is by no means limited to this package.
In this post, we take a closer look at the current and forthcoming EU legislative measures aimed at increasing the resilience of services provided in the EU against external, malicious influence, a key aspect of tech sovereignty. Relevant legislation falls into two broad categories: (1) laws promoting cyber resilience generally, to prevent malicious actors from disrupting services and critical infrastructure; and (2) laws focused on building supply chain resilience and reducing dependencies on certain external actors by building European industrial capacity in key tech sectors.
Continue Reading Looking beyond the tech sovereignty package: how the EU is moving to ensure tech sector resilienceBacklash to Bipartisan AI Omnibus Illustrates Preemption Impasse
By Matthew Shapanka, Evan Chiacchiaro & Samuel Klein on
On June 4, Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) released a sweeping discussion draft of their Great American Artificial Intelligence Act. The latest bipartisan AI legislation quickly met bipartisan skepticism, particularly concerning the draft’s approach to federal preemption of state AI rules, with many House Democrats opposing the broad preemption for frontier model developers, while many House Republicans and other stakeholders lamented the bill’s omission of preemption for state laws reaching other parts of the AI ecosystem.
The bill would also establish mandatory disclosure and risk-mitigation requirements for frontier models and task the Center for Artificial Intelligence Standards and Innovation (CAISI) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with oversight of federal AI-related research and analysis, standards and guidelines development, and risk-mitigation activities.
Continue Reading Backlash to Bipartisan AI Omnibus Illustrates Preemption ImpasseFederal Vehicle Safety at Midyear: Regulatory Relief, Legislative Momentum, and the Road to the Broader AV Deployment
Executive Summary
2026 has been a dynamic year so far for federal regulation of automotive safety. Federal regulators have demonstrated a sustained commitment to regulatory reform and innovation, while simultaneously advancing efforts to facilitate the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Congress has also renewed its focus on vehicle safety and automation…
Continue Reading Federal Vehicle Safety at Midyear: Regulatory Relief, Legislative Momentum, and the Road to the Broader AV DeploymentSingapore Updates Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI
By Jadzia Pierce & Sam Jungyun Choi on
Since our prior post on Singapore’s Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI, Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (“IMDA”) has published an updated version (Version 1.5) (the “Updated Framework”), incorporating feedback from over 60 organizations.
The Updated Framework, published on May 20, 2026, retains the same four-pillar structure—(1) assess and bound the risks upfront, (2) make humans meaningfully accountable, (3) implement technical controls and processes, and (4) enable end-user responsibility—but expands the guidance in several notable respects. These include a new discussion of multi-agent systemic risks, more granular guidance on technical controls, and real-world case studies illustrating how the Framework can be applied across sectors. We summarize some of the key updates below.
Continue Reading Singapore Updates Model AI Governance Framework for Agentic AI