The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) has announced that it is further restricting access by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its designated non-U.S. affiliates (“Huawei”) to U.S.-produced technology and software. BIS first added Huawei to its Entity List on May 15, 2019 and has continued to impose additional export restrictions on Huawei under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). Most recently, BIS published a Federal Register notice to implement the following enhancements. Although BIS published this Federal Register notice on August 20, 2020, the following rule changes took effect retroactively as of August 17, 2020:

Addition of Thirty-Eight New Huawei Affiliates to the Entity List. In its announcement, BIS added thirty-eight (38) additional Huawei affiliates to the Entity List. This action now brings the total number of Entity List-designated Huawei affiliates to one hundred and fifty-two (152). The EAR generally prohibits anyone, anywhere in the world from supplying products, software or technology that is “subject to the EAR” to these Huawei affiliates without a BIS license.

Expiration of Huawei Temporary General License. BIS had previously issued (and then, on multiple occasions, extended) a Temporary General License which permitted certain transactions with Huawei Entity List affiliates in order to support existing networks, equipment and handsets that were in existence prior to Huawei’s initial Entity List designation on May 16, 2019. In its Federal Register notice, BIS announced that it would be allowing the Temporary General License to expire. As a result, pursuant to the expiration date set in its most recent renewal notice, the Huawei Temporary General License expired effective August 13, 2020.

Anyone who previously utilized the Temporary General License was required to obtain certain compliance certifications in connection with transactions conducted pursuant to the Temporary General License and the EAR will require those persons to retain those certifications in accordance with the EAR’s recordkeeping requirements.

Permanent Authorization for Cybersecurity Research and Vulnerability Disclosures to Huawei Entity List Companies. The Temporary General License also contained a provision which authorized the disclosure of certain information to Huawei Entity List companies in order to assist with maintaining the integrity and reliability of existing data networks. After allowing the remainder of the Temporary General License to expire, BIS permanently codified this narrow exception into the EAR in order to promote cybersecurity.

Expansion of the Huawei Foreign-Produced Direct Product Rule. In May 2020, BIS amended the EAR’s foreign-produced direct product (FPDP) rules to designate the following items as “subject to the EAR”: (i) foreign-produced items produced or developed by a Huawei Entity List affiliate through the use of technology or software controlled under certain Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs), and (ii) foreign-produced items that are produced using equipment which is the direct product of U.S. origin software or technology controlled under certain ECCNs and also produced according to software or technology specifications produced or developed by a Huawei Entity List affiliate. BIS has now significantly expanded this rule.

As amended, the new Huawei FPDP rule now completely disregards whether foreign-produced items produced by a 3^rd party are produced according to Huawei specifications and instead extends the Huawei FPDP rule’s coverage to all foreign-produced items resulting from the specified software, technology or production equipment which are intended for incorporation into or for use in the “production” or “development” of any “part”, “component”, or “equipment” to be produced, purchased or ordered by a Huawei Entity List company or otherwise included in any transaction featuring a Huawei Entity List company as a “purchaser”, “intermediate consignee”, “ultimate consignee” or “end-user” (terms in quotation marks in the previous sentence are defined terms under the EAR).

As a result of these amendments, a much broader range of foreign-produced items are now “subject to the EAR” and therefore prohibited for export, reexport or in-country transfer to any Huawei Entity List company without an appropriate BIS license.  Although BIS will normally review such license applications on a “presumption of denial” standard, these amendments did create an exception which states that BIS will evaluate license applications involving Huawei Entity List companies on a “case-by-case” basis when they involve foreign-produced telecommunications systems, equipment and devices below the 5G level.

The amendment did feature a savings clause, which allowed the continuance of certain qualifying transactions which were initiated prior to August 17, 2020.

____________________________________________________________

Grant Leach is an Omaha-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP focusing on international trade, export controls, trade sanctions and anti-corruption compliance.

Cortney O’Toole Morgan is a Washington D.C.-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell LLP. She leads the firm’s International Trade & Supply Chain group.

Camron Greer is an Assistant Trade Analyst in Husch Blackwell LLP’s Washington D.C. office.