Huawei given 90-day reprieve from Entity List

The U.S. Commerce Department has temporarily relieved Chinese manufacturer Huawei of its inclusion on the federal Entity List, allowing the company to continue to do operate with its business partners for 90 days.

Huawei was added to the Entity List on May 16, effectively banning the company from doing business in the United States, but Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security gave the company some breathing room on May 20 with the “issue of a Temporary General License amending the Export Administration Regulations to authorize specific, limited engagement in transactions involving the export, reexport, and transfer of items – subject to the EAR – to Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its sixty-eight non-U.S. affiliates,” the Commerce Department wrote.

“The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks.”

Huawei was added to the Entity’s List after the federal government determined the company engaged in activities detrimental to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. In reaction and to remain within the law Google, Intel and Qualcomm all announced they would be severing ties with Huawei.