Definitions.

(a) Affiliated. The term “affiliated” as used in this subpart is defined as in § 63.09 of this chapter. (b) Country. The term “country” as used in this subpart refers to the foreign points identified in the U.S. Department of State's list of Independent States in the World and its list of Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty. See https://www.state.gov. (c) Foreign carrier. The term “foreign carrier” as used in this subpart is defined as in § 63.09 of this chapter except that the term “foreign carrier” shall also include any entity that owns or controls a cable landing station in a foreign market. (d) Third-party service provider. The term “third-party service provider” as used in this subpart is defined as an entity that is involved in providing, hosting, analyzing, repairing, and maintaining the equipment of a submarine cable system, including third-party owners and operators of network operations centers (NOCs). (e) Foreign adversary. The term “foreign adversary” as used in this subpart is defined as any foreign government or foreign non-government person determined by the Secretary of Commerce, pursuant to Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019, to have engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons as identified in 15 CFR 791.4. (f) Foreign adversary country. The term “foreign adversary country” as used in this subpart refers to foreign governments identified as foreign adversaries in 15 CFR 791.4, and countries controlled by a foreign adversary identified in 15 CFR 791.4. (1) The term “foreign adversary country” includes Venezuela to the extent Venezuelan politician Nicolás Maduro (Maduro Regime) is identified as a foreign adversary in 15 CFR 791.4. (2) [Reserved] (g) Owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary. The term “owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary” as used in this subpart applies to: (1) Any individual or entity, wherever located, who acts as an agent, representative, or employee, or any person who acts in any other capacity at the order, request, or under the direction or control, of a foreign adversary or of an individual or entity whose activities are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed, or subsidized in whole or in majority part by a foreign adversary; (2) Any individual, wherever located, who is a citizen of a foreign adversary or a country controlled by a foreign adversary, and is not a United States citizen or permanent resident of the United States; (3) Any entity, including a corporation, partnership, association, or other organization, that has a principal place of business in, or is headquartered in, incorporated in, or otherwise organized under the laws of a foreign adversary or a country controlled by a foreign adversary; or (4) Any entity, including a corporation, partnership, association, or other organization, wherever organized or doing business, that is owned or controlled by a foreign adversary, to include circumstances in which any person identified in paragraphs (g)(1) through (3) of this section possesses the power, direct or indirect, whether or not exercised, through the ownership of a majority or a dominant minority (10% or greater) of the total outstanding voting interest and/or equity interest, or through a controlling interest, in an entity, board representation, proxy voting, a special share, contractual arrangements, formal or informal arrangements to act in concert, or other means, to determine, direct, or decide important matters affecting an entity. (h) Submarine cable system. The term submarine cable system as used in this subpart is defined as a cable system that carries bidirectional data and voice telecommunications traffic consisting of one or more submarine cable(s) laid beneath the water, and all associated components that support the operation of the submarine cable system end-to-end, including the segments up to the system's terrestrial terminations at one or more Submarine Line Terminal Equipment (SLTEs) as well as the transponders that convert optical signals to electrical signals and vice versa. (i) Access. The term “Access” as used in this subpart means to, or the right or ability to, enter a location or physical space; or physically or logically undertake any of the following actions with respect to the submarine cable system: (1) Read, divert, or otherwise obtain non-public information or technology from or about software, hardware, a system, or a network; (2) Add, edit, or alter information or technology stored on or by software, hardware, a system, or a network; and (3) Alter the physical or logical state of software, hardware, a system, or a network ( e.g., turning it on or off, changing configuration, removing or adding components or connections). (j) Domestic communications. The term “Domestic Communications” as used in this subpart means: (1) Wire Communications, as described in 18 U.S.C. 2510(1), or Electronic Communications (whether stored or not), as described in 18 U.S.C. 2510(12), from one U.S. location to another U.S. location, and (2) The U.S. portion of a Wire Communication or Electronic Communication (whether stored or not) that originates or terminates in the United States or its territories. (k) Domestic communications infrastructure. The term “Domestic Communications Infrastructure” or “DCI” as used in this subpart means: (1) Any portion of a submarine cable system that is physically located in the United States or its territories, up to and including the SLTE, including (if any) transmission, switching, bridging, and routing equipment, and any associated software (with the exception of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software used for common business functions) used by or on behalf of the licensee(s) to provide, process, direct, control, supervise, or manage Domestic Communications; and (2) Any “Network Operations Center” or “NOC,” as defined in paragraph (n) of this section. (l) Committee members. The term “Committee Members” as used in this subpart means the Attorney General, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their designees to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector (Committee) if such designation has been made, under Executive Order 13913, dated April 4, 2020 The term “Committee Members” shall also mean, in the event of a subsequent Executive Order or statute altering the Members, those therein provided. (m) Principal equipment. The term “principal equipment” as used in this subpart means the primary electronic components of the submarine cable system that supports it end-to-end and any other such equipment, whether physical or providing logic-bearing service, that performs the functions described in this definition that licensees of a submarine cable system may use in the normal course of business. This includes, but is not limited to, the following paragraphs (m)(1) through (16). Authority is delegated to the Office of International Affairs (OIA), in consultation with the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) and other federal agencies as needed, to adopt necessary policies and procedures to make determinations on specific categories of such equipment, including through clarifications, declaratory rulings, and further guidance. (1) Domestic Communications Infrastructure, as defined in paragraph (k) of this section; (2) Wet Infrastructure, as defined in paragraph (p) of this section; (3) Servers, routers, switches, repeaters, (4) SLTE; (5) System supervisory equipment (SSE); (6) Signal modulators and amplifiers; (7) Power feed equipment (PFE); (8) Tilt and shape equalizer units (TEQ/SEQ); (9) Optical distribution frames (ODF); (10) Branching units (BU); (11) Optical splitters (OS); (12) Switches; (13) Multiplexers; (14) Optical carrier network (OCx) equipment, as applicable; (15) Fiber optic cables; and (16) All equipment (including hardware, software, and firmware) and Network Management Systems used to support, operate, manage, monitor, secure, maintain, analyze, administer, and provision the cable system. (n) Network operations center. The term “Network Operations Center” (or “NOC”) as used in this subpart means the physical and logical locations, facilities, service providers, and personnel performing network management, supporting, operating, managing, monitoring, securing, maintaining, analyzing, administering, and provisioning the submarine cable system. (o) Sensitive U.S. records. The term “sensitive U.S. records” as used in this subpart means an applicant's end-user billing records, Subscriber Information, personally identifiable information (PII), Sensitive Personal Data as described in 31 CFR 800.241, internet protocol detail record (IPDRs), and information subject to disclosure to a U.S. federal or state governmental entity under the procedures set forth in 18 U.S.C. 2703(c) and (d) and 18 U.S.C. 2709, each as with respect to the submarine cable system. (p) Wet infrastructure. The term “Wet Infrastructure” as used in this subpart means hardware components installed and residing on the wet link portion of the submarine cable system, including fiber optic cables, repeaters, branching units (BUs), and routers (if any). Wet Infrastructure includes all the components used to define the topology of the wet link portion of the submarine cable system. [90 FR 48690, Oct. 27, 2025, as amended at 91 FR 46857, July 27, 2026]