positions

Dahua on the FCC’s Proposed Restrictions

An FCC proposal is under consideration that would prohibit companies, including Dahua, that are on the US Government’s Covered Entity List from receiving FCC authorizations for future products. Dahua submitted comments on the record that point out the following:

  • We believe the FCC does not have the legal authority to make decisions about authorizations based on considerations other than how devices might impact the integrity of the U.S. telecommunications system through RF interference. In this case, the proposed rule is clearly about geo-political and national security issues. But the law does not empower the FCC to take such considerations into account when it comes to equipment authorization.
  • The proposed rule is “arbitrary and capricious” because they seek to deny authorizations based simply on the identity of the company, rather than on any technical considerations relevant to protections against RF interference. There is no evidence that Dahua’s equipment causes excessive RF interference or fails to meet any other technical standard considered in the equipment authorization process. In fact, all Dahua’s products sold in the United States have been certified through the Supplier’s Declaration of Conformity (“SDoC”) procedures by FCC-authorized labs or through FCC’s certification procedures, to the extent applicable.
  • The FCC’s proposed rules would be unconstitutionally retroactive if they seek to revoke existing authorizations based on non-technical criteria. These rules would conflict with the U.S. Constitution by violating protected property rights and penalizing companies without any type of hearing.
  • The costs of enforcing the rules would vastly exceed any speculative benefit. The vast majority of Dahua’s equipment is not connected to public communications networks and therefore, is not relevant to FCC’s concerns regarding national security risks to communications networks. Limiting Dahua’s access to the US will result in huge losses. These losses would stem from the potential need to replace existing systems, the inability to upgrade their current systems, and from the decrease of security products supply, diminishment of competition in the U.S. security market, and higher prices for security products ultimately paid by end-users. These losses would far outweigh any potential benefit.

Dahua on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

Dahua Technology was one of many China-based corporations placed on an Entity List by the U.S. Government, and was named as one of the “Covered Entities” under the NDAA 2019. Neither of these lists prohibit U.S. individuals or businesses from transacting with Dahua Technologies. Rather, our inclusion on these lists restrict Dahua from sourcing component parts and technology from the U.S. for inclusion in our products, and restricts the ability of U.S. Government entities or those who are funded by the U.S. Government from purchasing our products. While these restrictions do create a burden for the company, Dahua has developed plans to avoid supply chain disruptions and our private sector business in the U.S. remains stable.

To be clear, Dahua Technology flatly denies the allegations implied by our inclusion on the Entity List or the NDAA 2019. Nevertheless, we respect the decision of the U.S. Government in this regard and are committed to complying with the limitations imposed on us.

Despite these limitations, going forward, we are committed to growing our presence in the U.S. market. We believe that our products, services and solutions can play a meaningful role in helping the American private sector enjoy the enhanced safety and security our world-leading technologies offer, while fully complying with U.S. law and respecting American values.

To read more about Dahua’s commitment to the U.S. market, click here.

Illegal Use of Dahua Solutions

At Dahua Technology, we design our products, services and solutions to help make the world safer and more secure.Used appropriately, our technologies enable families, businesses and law enforcement services to detect and respond to safety and security risks more quickly, accurately and effectively than ever before. They can also provide value-add beyond security, including enabling cities, businesses and other organizations to incorporate the visual data captured on our cameras as part of their “smart” solutions for everything from reducing traffic congestion, wildlife monitoring, tracking waste streams, to enhancing sales at retail outlets.

At the same time, like all security tools, our technologies are subject to abuse if used inappropriately or illegally to target individuals or communities, or to invade people’s privacy. Ultimately, no security solutions company can fully control how its technologies are used by end users — we need and expect our end users to comply with all applicable local, national and international laws, regulations and conventions, just as we do. At the same time, we accept our responsibility to design our technologies in ways that mitigate the risk of abuse and maximize the likelihood of appropriate use. This includes a commitment to never develop solutions to identify a single ethnic, racial or national group. That commitment extends to every market in which we operate, anywhere in the world.