Washington Internet Daily Quotes Kevin Wolf on Delay in Huawei Licensing Decisions

January 21, 2021

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Alexandra Field

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Jacinta O'Shea-Ramdeholl

Senior Manager, International Communications

Akin Gump international trade partner Kevin Wolf has been quoted in the Washington Internet Daily article “Telework, Pandemic Delay BIS’ Huawei Licensing Decisions.”

The article reports that the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is seeing significant delays to its Huawei licensing decisions due to remote work by so many people amid the pandemic. Communication between agencies has been hampered, the article says, which has led to lengthy license adjudications and a backlog of applications.

Wolf, who served at BIS as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration during the Obama administration, said he has seen applications that have been “pending for months and months and months”—some of them since 2019. He stated, though, that some Huawei license denials have now come with a “flurry,” with it appearing “as if the floodgates opened up.”

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