Commerce Gives Rural Telecoms More Time With Huawei

The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on Nov. 18 extended a temporary general license 90 days to give mostly rural telecommunication services providers more time to continue their existing business deals with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

"The temporary general license extension will allow carriers to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement.

In May, the Commerce Department added Huawei, along with numerous overseas affiliates, to its restrictive Entity List, stating that the Chinese company operates contrary to U.S. national security interests through its continued business dealings with Iran. Commerce added another batch of Huawei overseas affiliates to the Entity List in August.

The list does not preclude a U.S. company or organization from doing business with a listed entity, but it imposes additional license requirements and generally limits the availability to most license exceptions for exports, reexports and transfers to listed entities.

Realizing the damaging financial effect Huawei Technologies' initial placement on the Entity List had on the U.S. semiconductor industry, which supplies hundreds of millions of dollars in components to the Chinese company each year, the Commerce Department on May 20 established a 90-day temporary general license that allows U.S. exporters meeting certain regulatory conditions to continue conducting business with the Chinese company and its overseas affiliates.

It extended the license for Huawei and its overseas affiliates another 90 days on Aug. 19.

BIS said the temporary general license does not relieve companies from other U.S. export control obligations related to China under the Export Administration Regulations.

"The department will continue to rigorously monitor sensitive technology exports to ensure that our innovations are not harnessed by those who would threaten our national security," Ross said.

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