BIS Further Extends Huawei Temporary General License

On November 18, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) extended the Temporary General License (TGL), authorizing certain activities involving Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) and a number of its affiliates, for an additional 90 days. 

Huawei was first added to the Entity List on May 15, 2019, causing a substantial disruption to the software and technology industry. Shortly thereafter, BIS issued a 90-day TGL that allowed a narrow set of maintenance activities, including those necessary for the continued operations of existing networks and equipment as well as the support of existing mobile services. The first iteration of the TGL was widely interpreted by the industry as having a broader scope than BIS apparently intended. Accordingly, BIS clarified in its first extension of this TGL that the authorization is quite narrow in only supporting maintenance of network and network infrastructure equipment. Under this latest extension, the TGL is now set to expire on February 16, 2020.