D.C. Circuit Upholds FCC's Pacific Networks/Comnet Order in National Security Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a 2022 FCC decision revoking Pacific Networks’ and its subsidiary ComNet’s authority to offer domestic or international services in the U.S. (see 2203160031). The FCC “revoked these authorizations based on…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
concerns that the carriers posed national-security risks and had proven themselves untrustworthy,” said a Tuesday decision written by Judge Gregory Katsas, in docket 22-1054. “The carriers argue that the FCC’s reasoning was substantively arbitrary and was rendered with inadequate process,” he said: “We reject both contentions.” The U.S. “has grown increasingly concerned about espionage and other threats from Chinese-owned telecommunications companies,” Katsas wrote. He noted Team Telecom weighed in after the FCC ordered Pacific Networks and ComNet to show cause in 2020 why their authorizations shouldn’t be revoked, saying “China’s Ownership” of the companies “raised ‘significant concerns’ that the carriers would be ‘forced to comply with Chinese government requests, including requests for communications intercepts.’” The carriers contend the FCC “unreasonably found a threat to national security,” Katsas said. “But the Commission meticulously explained -- over the span of 62 pages -- how the carriers’ domestic operations threaten national security,” he said. “We cannot second-guess the FCC’s judgment that allowing China to access this information poses a threat to national security,” the court said. The FCC “adequately explained its decision to revoke Pacific Networks’ and ComNet’s authorizations, and it afforded adequate process to the carriers,” Katsas wrote: “We therefore deny the petition for review.” Circuit Judges Harry Edwards and Karen Henderson joined the decision. The judges were on the same panel that upheld the FCC's revocation of China Telecom Americas’ domestic and international authorities last year (see 2111150025).