U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on June 15 announced a new rule ensuring U.S. industry’s ability to more fully contribute to standards-development activities in the telecommunications sector. This action is meant to ensure Huawei’s placement on the Entity List in May 2019 does not prevent American companies from contributing to important standards-developing activities despite Huawei’s pervasive participation in standards-development organizations.

“The United States will not cede leadership in global innovation,” Ross said. “This action recognizes the importance of harnessing American ingenuity to advance and protect our economic and national security. The department is committed to protecting U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by encouraging U.S. industry to fully engage and advocate for U.S. technologies to become international standards.”

Those standards serve as the critical building blocks for technological development by enabling functionality, interoperability and safety, argues Commerce, which adds that U.S. participation and leadership in standard-setting influences the future of 5G, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies.

Under the new Bureau of Industry and Security rule, technology that would not have required a license to be disclosed to Huawei before the company’s placement on the Entity List can be disclosed for the purpose of standards development in a standards-development body without the need for an export license.