US government gives ZTE another export restriction reprieve until Feb. 27

ZTE got some good news today from the US government. It decided to once again extend the reprieve on the previous export restrictions it placed on the company for another three months. The new deadline for those restrictions to go live is now Feb. 27.

You may remember that back in March, the government slammed the door on ZTE with a series of trade sanctions. At the time, the Commerce Department suspected the Chinese-based company of sending US technology to countries to Iran. If those export restrictions had been enforced, the company could no longer work with US-based hardware and software suppliers for its smartphones and other devices.

However, ZTE and the government got together and talked it out. A couple of weeks later, the government decided to temporarily lift the export restrictions ban until June. The reprieve was later extended until August, and again until November, and today’s decision likely means that the two parties are still working in good faith to get their differences sorted out.

Reuters also reports that ZTE has hired Matthew Bell as its new US-based chief export compliance officer. The company said it will continue to continue to cooperate with the US government to reach a final solution to this issue. If the export bans are permanently removed, ZTE will still likely have to pay a one-time penalty to the government.