It seems we just can’t get through a single day where we don’t hear about what Huawei is doing or what the US has done. Today’s news is also about Huawei, filing a civil lawsuit against the US government in the US federal court last Friday. In the civil lawsuit filed, it has been claimed by Huawei that the US Commerce Department has still not rightfully returned the equipment that was seized back in 2017 and as per Huawei, the equipment is still sitting in Alaska.
What is Huawei talking about and what equipment of Huawei was confiscated back in 2017? As it happens, before Huawei started taking the brunt of the trade war between the US and China, the company had a shipment of its equipment seized by the US Commerce Department in 2017.
The shipment was coming from an independent facility that was in charge of testing the equipment in the US and was sending it back to China. It was held up by the Commerce Department that claimed, at the time, that the shipment had to be inspected to ascertain if it was subject to the US export controls.
The steps taken by the US Commerce Department were not uncommon with international shipments of technology considered sensitive. That is why Huawei provided the Commerce Department with the required paperwork and documentation that is generally needed for clearing up any queries regarding the tech that is being shipped. Huawei has said that such a matter is usually resolved within 45 days however the equipment has still not been released even after two years despite the company providing all of the required documents.
In the lawsuit, Huawei has requested the court to make the Commerce Department reach a final decision about the equipment’s status and if the shipment is not subject to export controls; have it release it right away. The civil lawsuit has not been filed to seek any sort of monetary damages.