U.S. Commerce Dept. extends ZTE export ban reprieve

Apparently satisfied with the effort ZTE has expended so far to address its concerns, the U.S. Commerce Department has extended the expiration of its export ban reprieve from June 30 to August 30. The extension gives ZTE more time to convince the U.S. government not to ban U.S. communications technology developers from supplying their products to the Chinese system house.

The Department of Commerce this past March sanctioned ZTE and three affiliates for allegedly shipping communications systems to Iran that contained U.S. technology covered by an economic embargo on that country (see "ZTE faces export sanctions from US Department of Commerce"). The department added ZTE and the affiliates to a restricted export list that banned U.S. communications technology developers (as well as foreign suppliers of U.S. technology) from delivering products to ZTE without permission – a permission the Commerce Dept. made clear it planned to withhold.

Faced with a major disruption to its supply chain, ZTE appealed for a stay of the listing, which the Commerce Dept. granted on a temporary basis on March 24 (see "ZTE receives temporary export restrictions reprieve").

"The March 24 final rule specified that the temporary general license was renewable if the U.S. Government determined, in its sole discretion, that ZTE Corporation and ZTE Kangxun were timely performing their undertakings to the U.S. Government and otherwise cooperating with the U.S. Government in resolving the matter which led to the two entities' listing," reads a notice published in the Federal Register today.

The extension also is good news for optical communications component and subsystems suppliers for whom ZTE is a significant revenue source (see "Optical component suppliers brace for ZTE export ban effects").

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