The fight over banning Huawei from U.S. 5G networks intensified Wednesday. Huawei asked for summary judgment in a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas on the constitutionality of parts of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Robert Strayer, a State Department official, told an American Enterprise Institute forum the risk from Chinese companies is real and can't be eliminated if they're part of a 5G network. President Donald Trump said last week sanctions against Huawei could be part of trade negotiations with China (see 1905240038).
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security is issuing a general license temporarily allowing certain transactions with Huawei and 68 of its affiliates without new licensing requirements set by their recent addition (see 1905160081) to the entity list. The general license authorizes exports, re-exports and in-country transfers under pre-listing conditions if they are related to continued operation of existing networks and equipment; support for existing Huawei handsets; cybersecurity research and vulnerability disclosure; or engagement necessary for the development of 5G standards by a recognized standards body. The general license is set for Federal Register publication Wednesday and remains in effect until Aug. 19. "The Temporary General License grants operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Monday. “This license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks.” The steps the U.S. government is taking are “long overdue,” blogged Roslyn Layton, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, on Tuesday. “The actions follow two decades of intelligence gathering and experience documenting the risk of the products and services of firms associated with the Chinese government and military, repeated trade violations, and cyberattacks, including the one on the Office of Personnel Management.”
The topic of supply chain security got hotter with Wednesday’s presidential executive order that could mean rules banning some companies from the U.S. supply chain, speakers said a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Supply Chain Summit Thursday (see 1905150066). China is starting to fire back.
Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security removed ZTE from a trade blacklist after the company pleaded guilty earlier this month to export-related violations (see 1703230038). BIS added one Chinese individual to the entity list, Shi Lirong, who was ZTE CEO when company documents that had detailed the firm's illicit export plan were signed. Those documents indicated ZTE organized a scheme to establish shell companies to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws, BIS said in Wednesday's Federal Register.
The federal government's interagency End-User Review Committee added Chinese telecom equipment company ZTE and three affiliated firms to the entity list after the ERC determined the trio had cooperated in a "scheme" to re-export controlled items to Iran contrary to U.S. law, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a notice to appear in Tuesday's Federal Register. ZTE's plan allegedly involved establishing, controlling and using multiple shell companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws, BIS said. ZTE didn't comment Monday.
Comments on an FCC proposal to require holders of attributable broadcaster stakes to provide a Social Security number to the agency to get an identification number for biennial ownership forms are due Feb. 14, replies March 1, in docket 07-294, said a commission notice in Tuesday’s Federal Register. A rulemaking notice this month proposed to end special-use FCC registration numbers, which allowed an entity listed as an owner of a station on a Form 323 to not provide a Social Security number (CD Jan 4 p5).