On February 24, 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a rule extending for the fourth time the temporary 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). The new rule extends the validity of the temporary general license published on March 24, 2016, until March 29, 2017, and continues the temporary general license without interruption.
On March 8, 2016, BIS added ZTE and ZTE Kangxun to its 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, including EAR99 items, to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun.1 On March 24, 2016, BIS issued a temporary general license "suspending" the license requirement imposed by the Entity List and thereby returning the license requirements for exports, reexports, and in-country transfers of items subject to the EAR to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun to the same level that existed prior to ZTE's and ZTE Kangxun's inclusion on the Entity List. Thus, if an export was authorized under no license required (NLR) to ZTE or ZTE Kangxun prior to the March 8, 2016, listing, then that export can continue to be sent under NLR to ZTE or ZTE Kangxun as a result of the general license. The use of applicable license exceptions for exports, reexports, and in-country shipments to ZTE and ZTE Kangxun was also authorized.
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. Thus, a license is required for the export, reexport, or transfer of any item subject to the EAR to ZTE Parsian and Beijing 8-Star.
