{"id":8031,"date":"2026-07-29T10:26:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/?p=8031"},"modified":"2026-07-29T10:26:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T14:26:59","slug":"updates-on-fcc-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/2026\/07\/29\/updates-on-fcc-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Updates on FCC decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In December 2025, the FCC issued DA 25-1086, adding certain foreign-produced UAS and \u201ccritical UAS components\u201d to the FCC Covered List following national security determinations authorized by Congress. Of course, the immediate concern is that the broad language of the order, which covers all<\/strong> foreign-made UAS components, including batteries, transmitters, or any other component which requires FCC approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2026, the FCC clarified the earlier order and added broad language to outline potential exemption or approval pathways for some manufacturers and systems and certain domestic manufacturing standards.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current takeaways are: 
– Any UAS or UAS component that was approved before<\/em> the December 2025 FCC decision is still valid and legal. No models purchased or owned prior to this decision are affected. 
 
– Importation of advanced DJI and DJI-style will likely see noticeable restrictions; certain previously approved models may continue to be sold. Advanced multi-rotor UAS are categorized differently than most traditional fixed-wing UAS under the current importation codes and are therefore more likely to be flagged at customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The import and customs codes differ between advanced drones and traditional line-of-sight UAS. Traditional UAS are more often categorized as toys. For this reason, we believe fixed-wing and traditional helicopters will see very little practical impact at customs which cannot reasonably separate these components from countless other shipments in that category. 
 
– AMA has made the appropriate connections and is having regular discussions with DHS officials if enforcement actions force us to seek waivered relief.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information has remained limited between January and the end of May 2026. During that time, the FCC has used its approval pathway several times to authorize more advanced military and to research UAS for limited purchase within the United States, but it has not issued any additional determinations affecting recreational UAS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If members or affiliated hobby businesses encounter direct conflicts related to shipping or customs enforcement, we encourage them to contact us at amagov@modelaircraft.org<\/a> so that we can better track and assess potential impacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will publish any major updates, but we hope this information helps answer more questions at the local level. Please feel free to reach out to lucasr@modelaircraft.org<\/a> if you have any further questions. 
 
Lucas Rodden <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMA Government Affairs <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December 2025, the FCC issued DA 25-1086, adding certain foreign-produced UAS and \u201ccritical UAS components\u201d to the FCC Covered List following national security determinations authorized by Congress. Of course, the immediate concern is that the broad language of the order, which covers all foreign-made UAS components, including batteries, transmitters, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002461,"featured_media":8020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":18,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[131,299,300],"class_list":["post-8031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fcc","tag-fcc","tag-leader-member","tag-leader-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002461"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8032,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8031\/revisions\/8032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amablog.modelaircraft.org\/amagov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}