The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned new imports of foreign-made advanced robots. The FCC’s rationale for this ban covers three main factors: perceived potential threats to national security, fear of cyber attacks, and a desire to re-shore parts of the supply chain amid concerns about an over-reliance on foreign hardware.
The ban has clear implications for the European robotics sector, both directly by raising potential barriers for European technology exports to the US, and consequentially, with the risks of a backwave of Chinese imports being redirected to European markets.
Given the significance of these challenges, the FCC ban and its consequences have been the subject of discussion within the euRobotics Board of Directors. BoD member Carlos Vivas has coordinated the association’s response, which it has set out in an Open Letter to the European Commission.
The Open Letter’s key argument is that “European robotics manufacturers are increasingly encountering restrictions that shut their technologies out of the US market based strictly on country-of-origin criteria, rather than objective, risk-based security and technical standards. This geographic discrimination poses a direct threat to Europe’s industrial competitiveness, innovation capacity, and technological sovereignty in global markets.”
The Open Letter calls on the EC to address these concerns within ongoing EU–US trade, technology, and economic security dialogues. Underlining the importance of taking this action, the Open Letter observes that ‘Ensuring a level playing field for European high-tech industries is critical to defending the European Union’s strategic interests.’
The newsletter will return to this topic in the next edition.