The FCC is preparing to use a new power for the first time: blocking companies it suspects of secretly selling drones made by DJI, a Chinese manufacturer that the US government has banned on national security grounds. The agency is targeting nine companies that it believes are acting as front organizations, essentially hiding DJI's involvement so the drones can still reach US buyers. The FCC had previously proposed $25,000 fines against eight of these firms. Now it wants to stop them from importing, distributing, marketing, and selling their drone and camera products in the United States. The Verge

The targeted companies are Cogito Tech, Fixaxo Technology, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh Tech, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact, WaveGo Tech, Xtra Technology, and the agricultural drone brand XAG. SZ Knowact and WaveGo Tech are the entities behind the Skyrover drone brand. Xtra Technology markets a version of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 camera that obtained FCC certification before the foreign drone ban took effect. That detail matters because the FCC's new power lets it go after products that were already approved, if it believes the approval was obtained by hiding who really made the product. The Verge

None of the companies responded to the FCC's information requests except XAG, which replied but did not supply the specific information the agency sought. The FCC has "tentatively concluded" that these companies are selling equipment that should be subject to the ban on national security grounds. The Verge

The proposed prohibition would not affect devices already purchased by consumers and would not take effect immediately. The FCC is accepting public comments for 30 days before finalizing any ban. The Verge FCC

In a parallel action, the FCC announced it is withdrawing recognition of SGS-CSTC Shenzhen, a Chinese testing laboratory that certified some of the targeted products for the US market. SGS-CSTC Shenzhen informed the FCC that it is not controlled by the Chinese government, noting that the state-owned CSTC holds only a 15 percent ownership stake in the lab. The Verge FCC

The FCC has also "temporarily deferred the grantee codes" of the targeted companies, a procedural phrase that a former FCC official told The Verge they had never encountered before. Think of a grantee code as a company's FCC account number: it is the identifier the agency issues to a company when it approves one of that company's products. By pausing those codes, the FCC is effectively blocking these companies from getting any new products approved through the normal process. The Verge

The enforcement approach here works on three levels. The original ban stopped new equipment from the listed manufacturers from entering the market. The retroactive power extends that reach to products approved before the ban existed, on the theory that those approvals were obtained by lying about who really made the product. The lab-recognition withdrawal adds a third layer of pressure: if the testing laboratory that approved a product loses its FCC standing, the approvals it issued become open to challenge.

The non-cooperation of eight of the nine targeted companies is notable in itself. When a firm declines to respond to an FCC inquiry, the agency's enforcement options narrow toward unilateral action, which is the trajectory visible here. XAG's partial response, which the FCC deemed insufficient, did not alter that path for the group.

What is still unclear is how the FCC will identify and pursue additional suspected front companies beyond this initial set of nine. The current enforcement action targets specific entities tied to identifiable product brands (Skyrover drones, XAG agricultural drones, and a relabeled DJI Osmo Pocket 3). Broader patterns of corporate restructuring, brand relabeling, or new entity formation could present a moving target for an agency working through a comment-and-finalize process that introduces procedural delay.

For people and organizations that rely on commercial drone hardware, the immediate practical impact is limited to these specific companies and their product lines. Existing purchased equipment is not affected. But the signal is broader: the FCC is building an enforcement playbook that combines retroactive product bans, grantee-code deferral, and testing-lab disqualification. Companies importing, certifying, or distributing connected hardware of foreign origin should treat this as a template the agency is prepared to reuse.

The 30-day comment window, open as of the FCC's announcement, is the next concrete milestone. Whether any of the targeted companies break their silence during that period will indicate whether the enforcement action proceeds on the current uncontested track or encounters resistance that could shape how the retroactive ban power is applied going forward.