For the second time, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is extending the general license for exports, reexports (shipments from one foreign country to another foreign country), and in-country transfers of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment Corporation (ZTE) and its affiliate, ZTE Kangxun Telecommunications Ltd. (ZTE Kangxun). This extension is until November 28, 2016. BIS's notice announcing the extension will be published in the Federal Register on August 19.
On March 8, 2016, these entities were added to BIS's Entity List and, as a result, a license requirement was imposed on the export, reexport, and in-country transfer of any item subject to the EAR to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun.1On March 23, BIS issued the general license "suspending" the license requirement imposed by the Entity List and the license requirement status returned to the same level that existed prior to ZTE's and ZTE Kangxun's inclusion on the Entity List. That general license has now been extended for a second time, without interruption, until November 28. Thus, if an export was authorized under no license required (NLR) to ZTE or ZTE Kangxun prior to the March 8 listing, then that export can continue to be sent NLR to ZTE as a result of the general license. License exceptions may continue to be used for exports, reexports, and in-country shipments to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun of items subject to the EAR.
Restrictions on the export, reexport, and transfer to the two additional entities added to the Entity List with ZTE, ZTE Parsian, and Beijing 8-Star remain in effect.
If you would like to discuss this matter, please contact Josephine Aiello LeBeau, 202-973-8813, jalebeau@wsgr.com; Anne Seymour, 202-973-8874, aseymour@wsgr.com; or any member of the export control and economic sanctions regulatory practice at Wilson Sonsini.
