ZTE can continue operating as normal, as Washington agency extends temporary license until Feb 27, filing says

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ZTE carried out a management revamp in April that some believe was intended to help repair the company’s damaged reputation with Washington after violating a trade sanction with on Iran. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:30pm, 18 Nov 2016Updated: 10:44pm, 18 Nov 2016

ZTE Corp, China’s largest listed telecommunications equipment manufacturer, has been granted a reprieve for the fourth time from United States export restrictions over the violation of long-standing trade sanctions on Iran.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday, ZTE said it was notified that the Bureau of Industry and Security of the US Department of Commerce has ruled to extend the company’s temporary general licence until February 27 next year.

“The extension provides more time for both sides to try and resolve the issue,” ZTE spokesman David Dai Shu told the South China Morning Post.

The bureau’s ruling was announced by Shenzhen-based ZTE three days after its appointment of former EY and KPMG consultant Matthew Bell to the company’s newly-created position of chief export compliance officer.

Bell, who recently worked in a compliance position at New York-listed engineering and construction firm KBR, will also serve as the chief compliance officer and legal counsel at ZTE’s US subsidiary in Texas.

Paul Haswell, a partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons, said on Tuesday that the appointment showed to “Washington and the rest of the world that ZTE is serious about complying with export rules”.