United States of America: Entry into force with grace period of Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019

On 12 March 2020, the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act is signed by the President of the United States. The enforcement of the Act is delegated to the orders of the Federal Communication Commission. The Act prohibits the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from subsidizing the acquisition or maintenance of telecommunications equipment or services from untrusted suppliers, creates a program to reimburse telecommunications providers with fewer than two million customers that will remove equipment that poses a national security risk from their networks to replace it with equipment from trusted suppliers, and establishes an information sharing program for telecommunications providers (particularly small and rural operators) to obtain information regarding potential security risks and vulnerabilities to their networks.