Are Hikvision and Dahua cameras illegal in the US?

Not to own or operate. Existing installations can keep running, and private businesses are not required to remove them. What is prohibited is new equipment authorisation — since 6 February 2023 for new models, and since the FCC order of 28 October 2025 for previously authorised models and covered component parts as well. It is a sale and import rule, not a possession rule.

Do I have to remove my existing cameras?

Generally no. If you are a federal contractor or take federal grant money, Section 889 is different — it restricts your company from using covered equipment at all, not just on the federal job, so there it can become a real requirement.

How do I tell if a camera is really Hikvision or Dahua?

Find the FCC ID on the device label or in its web interface and look it up in the FCC database. That shows who actually holds the authorisation rather than whose brand is on the housing, which is how you identify rebranded gear. A lot of it was sold under other names.

What is the difference between NDAA Section 889 and the FCC Covered List?

Section 889 governs federal contracting — it stops federal money being spent on this equipment and restricts contractors from using it. The FCC Covered List governs authorisation for sale in the US and applies to everybody. You can be affected by one without the other.

What changed in October 2025?

The FCC adopted a Second Report and Order on 28 October 2025 closing two gaps: models authorised before the earlier cutoff could still be imported and sold, and covered components inside otherwise-approved products were not caught. Both are now covered. The effect is on new supply rather than on installed systems.

Can I still get replacement parts?

It is getting harder through compliant distribution, and that is the practical reason people end up changing platforms. If you are running a covered system and something fails, plan for the replacement to be a different make rather than assuming like-for-like.

Compliance

Ordering Chinese cameras just got harder: what the FCC rules actually mean for your next job

If you have been buying Hikvision or Dahua gear, or a rebranded version of it, the rules changed again in late 2025. Here is what still works, what does not, and what to ask your supplier before you order.

August 21, 2026VuePoint

If you have bought security cameras in the last ten years, there is a good chance you bought Hikvision or Dahua and did not know it. They were the cheapest gear on the market and a lot of it got sold under other brand names.

That has been getting harder to do since 2020. In late 2025 it got harder again. This is a plain summary of where the rules stand, because most of what is written about it is either alarmist or trying to sell you something.

There are two separate rules and people mix them up

This is where most of the confusion comes from. They are different laws, they cover different people, and you can be caught by one and not the other.

	NDAA Section 889	FCC Covered List
What it does	Stops federal money being spent on this equipment	Stops the equipment being authorised for sale in the US at all
Who it applies to	Federal contractors, subcontractors, and grant recipients	Everyone. It is an import and sale rule
Since when	The use ban took effect 13 August 2020	No new authorisations since 6 February 2023
The catch	It covers your whole company, not just the federal job	Late 2025 extended it to old models and to parts inside other products

The named companies are the same in both: Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua, plus their subsidiaries and affiliates. On the camera side it is Hikvision and Dahua that matter.

The part that catches contractors

Section 889 does not just say you cannot install this gear on a federal job. It says a company that uses covered equipment cannot be a federal contractor, and that applies across your business.

So the cameras watching your own yard can be the reason you fail a prequal, even though the federal work is somewhere else entirely. There is no exemption for small orders and no commercial-item carve-out. If you take federal money, or hope to, that is worth knowing before somebody asks you to certify it.

What changed in late 2025

Until then there were two gaps in the FCC rules, and a lot of gear was still arriving through them.

Old approvals still counted. The ban applied to new models. Anything authorised before the cutoff could keep being imported and sold indefinitely.
Parts did not count. A camera from a company nobody had heard of could be built around covered components and still be sold, because the finished product had its own authorisation.

On 28 October 2025 the FCC adopted a Second Report and Order closing both. It extends the prohibition to previously authorised models and to covered component parts inside otherwise authorised devices. The Chairman had announced the vote three weeks earlier and described it exactly that way — as closing two loopholes.

The practical effect is on supply. Existing systems are not affected. But new equipment, replacement parts and expansions in these brands are getting hard to source through compliant distribution, and that is the part that shows up on a job.

You may already own this gear without knowing

This is the real problem for most people reading this. A large amount of Hikvision and Dahua hardware was sold under other brands — same camera, different label. If you bought on price from a distributor or off a marketplace, the brand on the box tells you very little.

How to find out what you actually have

1
Find the FCC ID on the label
Every device sold in the US carries one. It is on the sticker on the camera body, and usually in the web interface under device information. Write it down.
2
Look it up in the FCC database
The FCC ID search tells you which company actually holds the authorisation, not whose name is printed on the housing. This is the step that identifies rebranded gear, and it takes about a minute per model.
3
Check the current Covered List
The FCC publishes and updates it. Check the manufacturer you found in step two against it, and check subsidiaries — the rules cover affiliates, not just the parent name.
4
Get it in writing from your supplier
Ask for a written statement that the equipment and its components are not produced by a Covered List entity. A supplier who will not put that in writing has told you something useful.
5
Write down what you find
If you take federal work, you will be asked to certify this. Doing the inventory once, on paper, is much easier than reconstructing it under a bid deadline.

What we would actually do about it

If the cameras are installed, working, and you do not touch federal money, the honest answer is: leave them. Replacing a functioning system because of a rule that does not apply to you is money spent for nothing.

Where it is worth acting is narrower than the marketing suggests:

You take federal or federally funded work, or want to. Then this is a prequal problem, and it is worth sorting before it costs you a bid.
You are expanding a system. Adding to a covered platform means sourcing more covered gear, and that supply is tightening. This is the point to change direction.
Something has failed and needs replacing. Same reason. Replacing like for like is getting harder and will keep getting harder.
You cannot answer what you have. That is worth an afternoon regardless of which way the answer goes.

What this is not

Not a recall. Nobody is coming to remove cameras from private property.
Not retroactive for private business. Existing installations are not made illegal by these rules.
Not legal advice. If you have a federal contract and a compliance question attached to it, that is a conversation with your counsel, not with a camera vendor.

If you are working out whether your existing cameras can carry analytics rather than being replaced, that question is covered here, and what it costs is here.

Sources

FCC — Covered List of communications equipment and services
FCC — Second Report and Order, adopted 28 October 2025 (Federal Register)
FCC — Fact sheet announcing the October 2025 vote (PDF)
FCC — Prohibition on authorization of covered equipment
FCC — FCC ID search, for checking who actually holds a device authorisation
Congressional Research Service — New FCC rules ban authorizations for equipment posing national security risks
US Election Assistance Commission — What is Section 889 of the FY2019 NDAA?

Rules in this area have changed several times since 2020 and will change again. Everything above reflects the position as of August 2026 — check the FCC pages directly before you rely on it for a bid.

Common questions

Are Hikvision and Dahua cameras illegal in the US?: Not to own or operate. Existing installations can keep running, and private businesses are not required to remove them. What is prohibited is new equipment authorisation — since 6 February 2023 for new models, and since the FCC order of 28 October 2025 for previously authorised models and covered component parts as well. It is a sale and import rule, not a possession rule.
Do I have to remove my existing cameras?: Generally no. If you are a federal contractor or take federal grant money, Section 889 is different — it restricts your company from using covered equipment at all, not just on the federal job, so there it can become a real requirement.
How do I tell if a camera is really Hikvision or Dahua?: Find the FCC ID on the device label or in its web interface and look it up in the FCC database. That shows who actually holds the authorisation rather than whose brand is on the housing, which is how you identify rebranded gear. A lot of it was sold under other names.
What is the difference between NDAA Section 889 and the FCC Covered List?: Section 889 governs federal contracting — it stops federal money being spent on this equipment and restricts contractors from using it. The FCC Covered List governs authorisation for sale in the US and applies to everybody. You can be affected by one without the other.
What changed in October 2025?: The FCC adopted a Second Report and Order on 28 October 2025 closing two gaps: models authorised before the earlier cutoff could still be imported and sold, and covered components inside otherwise-approved products were not caught. Both are now covered. The effect is on new supply rather than on installed systems.
Can I still get replacement parts?: It is getting harder through compliant distribution, and that is the practical reason people end up changing platforms. If you are running a covered system and something fails, plan for the replacement to be a different make rather than assuming like-for-like.

Keep reading

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