Market access · August 2026

The United States now gates new inverter authorisations on where a product is made, not on who makes it.

The Federal Communications Commission added foreign-produced power inverters to its Covered List on 28 July 2026 and revised the entry on 20 August. A product meeting the definition can no longer receive FCC equipment authorisation, and without that authorisation it cannot be imported, marketed or sold in the United States. The rule reaches forward to new models rather than backward to installed fleet, and the line it draws is a production test.

What the rule does

The Covered List is the FCC's register of communications equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to United States national security or to the safety and security of United States persons. Power inverters were added to it on 28 July 2026. In the FCC's own summary of the consequence, new foreign-produced power inverters are generally prohibited from receiving FCC authorisation to be imported, marketed or sold in the United States. Source: FCC, Covered List FAQs, retrieved 28 August 2026.

The streamlined route does not survive either. All covered equipment is prohibited from receiving any FCC equipment authorisation, including through the Supplier's Declaration of Conformity process, so a new product cannot reach the market by declaring conformity instead of seeking certification.

The device test was narrowed, then widened in one respect

The 20 August public notice, which the FCC attributes to further specific determinations by the Department of War, did two things. It removed inverters eligible for the section 45X credit from the list, and it rewrote the definition of a power inverter. A covered inverter is now one that changes dc power to ac power, including bidirectional devices, intended for use in parallel with an electric utility to supply common loads and sometimes deliver power to the utility, being a utility-interactive inverter as that term is defined in UL 1741 sections 2.1.23 and 2.1.52.

That narrows the reach. An inverter incapable of connection to the utility grid falls outside it, and so does a rectifier, which the FCC states is excluded because it only changes ac power to dc power.

The second limb widened. The device must contain, or be designed, equipped or configured to accept, a component enabling remote communication, control, sensing, data collection or monitoring. The FCC was asked directly whether the rule is limited to wireless connections and answered no:

Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, or other similar connections, whether wired or wireless.

A wired monitoring port is therefore inside the definition. For grid-connected inverters sold with any monitoring path, which is close to the whole modern category, the device test is not the part that decides anything.

The origin test is the one that decides

An inverter is not foreign-produced if it meets either of two conditions. The first is eligibility for the advanced manufacturing credit at 26 U.S.C. 45X for domestic production. The second is qualifying as a domestic end product under 48 CFR 25.101(a), which requires that the device be manufactured in the United States and that the cost of domestic components exceed 65 per cent of total component cost for items delivered in calendar years 2024 through 2028, rising to 75 per cent for items delivered from 2029. The FCC notes that the commercially available off-the-shelf exception found elsewhere in the Buy America standard does not apply to this determination.

Market access

One inverter, two tests, and only one of them is about the company

A grid-connected inverter with a communications interfaceThe FCC narrowed the device test on 20 August 2026 to utility-interactive inverters as defined in UL 1741 sections 2.1.23 and 2.1.52, that contain or are designed to accept a remote communication component

Not covered Eligible for section 45X, or a domestic end product

Manufactured in the United States with domestic component cost above 65 per cent for items delivered in calendar years 2024 through 2028, and 75 per cent from 2029, under 48 CFR 25.101(a). Eligibility for the credit at 26 U.S.C. 45X also removes a product from the list.

Covered Everything else, whoever makes it

No new FCC equipment authorisation, which closes import, marketing and sale of new models. The FCC states that the nationality of the producing entity is not relevant and that the action is country neutral.

Two statements in the FAQ close off the reading most likely to be made of this. Asked whether the nationality of the producing entity affects covered status, the FCC states that it is not relevant. Asked whether the action targets any country, the FCC states that it is country neutral. The rule is written about where components come from and where assembly happens, and a manufacturer's headquarters does not answer it in either direction.

What it does not reach

Boundaries of the rule

Five things the Covered List entry does not reach

1. 01
   Models already authorised

   The FCC states the update does not affect continued importing, marketing or selling of existing models that have already received FCC equipment authorisation.

2. 02
   Equipment already owned

   Asked whether there are restrictions on consumers' ability to use foreign-produced power inverters, the FCC answers no. Installed equipment is not required to come out.

3. 03
   Firmware and software

   Covered devices can continue to receive basic software and firmware updates to maintain usability, under a waiver of the FCC's rules.

4. 04
   Federal purchases

   Importation, marketing or sale to the federal government or federal agencies is stated to be entirely exempt from Covered List restrictions.

5. 05
   Rectifiers and off-grid units

   The term is limited to devices that change dc power to ac power, including bidirectional devices. Rectifiers are excluded, and the device must be intended for use in parallel with an electric utility.

The distinction between a gate on new authorisations and a ban on a category is the whole of the practical difference here, and it is the part most easily lost in summary. A product line already carrying authorisation continues to be imported and sold. What is closed is the path for its successor.

There is an exception route, and it is published

The national security determination for power inverters carries an exemption process administered by the Department of War and the Department of Homeland Security. Entities can apply for a conditional approval, and applications may cover classes of device rather than single models. The FCC states that all power inverters granted conditional approvals will be listed on its website. Separately, small batches of unauthorised devices may be imported solely for product development or testing under 47 CFR 2.1204(a)(3), provided they are not marketed or sold.

That published list is the part worth watching. It converts an exception process into a running public record, which is a different thing from a rule whose effects can only be inferred.

What this changes for our record

Our inverter records carry a United States market overlay stating whether a product is available there. That field remains accurate for products already authorised and it says nothing about whether a successor model can follow them to market, because we do not record the fact the rule turns on. Whether a given inverter is a domestic end product at the 65 per cent threshold, or eligible for the section 45X credit, is not a field we hold.

We are not filling that gap by inference. A production basis is a per-product fact and it needs a per-product source, and the one inference that would make it easy, reading a manufacturer's nationality as its products' status, is the specific reading the FCC rules out. The conditional approvals list and manufacturers' own domestic content statements are the sources that could support it. Until those are read product by product, the honest position is that our availability layer is current and incomplete on its forward risk, and we would rather say so than publish a list of exposed products we cannot stand behind.

Reported from the regulator's published position. No manufacturer's domestic content share has been assessed, and no scored product is named here as covered or exempt.

Sources and method3 references

• Federal Communications Commission, FAQs on recent updates to the FCC Covered List regarding foreign-produced advanced robotic devices and power inverters, fcc.gov/covered-list-faqs-robots-inverters, retrieved 28 August 2026. Primary source for the Covered List addition on 28 July 2026, the public notice of 20 August 2026, the revised definition and its UL 1741 reference, the wired and wireless clarification, the exclusion of rectifiers and non-grid-capable inverters, the 45X and domestic end product tests with the 65 and 75 per cent thresholds, the country neutrality and nationality statements, the Supplier's Declaration of Conformity position, the exemptions for authorised models, consumer use, firmware updates and federal purchases, and the conditional approval process and its publication.
• Wiley Rein LLP, client alert on the addition of foreign-produced power inverters and advanced robotic devices to the Covered List, retrieved 28 August 2026. Read as an independent check on the action date, the prohibition on new authorisations, the treatment of previously authorised equipment and the conditional approval pathway.
• Covington & Burling LLP, Inside Global Tech, on the narrowing of the Covered List definition of power inverters and the meaning of foreign-produced, dated 21 August 2026, retrieved 28 August 2026. Read as a second independent check on the 20 August revision and on the 65 and 75 per cent content thresholds.