By Karen Freifeld and David Shepardson
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States removed Canada-based Sandvine from a trade restriction list after the networking equipment company made changes to its corporate governance and business practices to protect human rights, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Monday.
The U.S. had placed Sandvine on the list in February for allegedly helping the Egyptian government target human rights activists and dissidents.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sandvine, which has been accused of helping facilitate surveillance on Egypt’s opposition, supplies what is known as “deep packet inspection technology”, which examines and manages network traffic.
Once placed on the trade restriction list known as the Entity List, Sandvine could not receive U.S. goods and technology without a special license, which likely would be denied.
Over the past several months, the company has focused on servicing democracies committed to human rights, the Commerce Department said. It has exited 32 non-Democratic countries and is in the process of leaving 24 others. It is also monitoring the misuse of technology where it is still doing business, in addition to other reforms, the statement said.
“Sandvine’s delisting is a clear example of how the Entity List may be used to shape corporate behavior in favor of human rights and digital safety,” Commerce official Matthew Borman said.
In addition to Sandvine, the United States on Monday also removed Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co Ltd from the list, according to Commerce.
At the same time, it added six Chinese companies to the Entity List, including Beijing Moreget Creative Technology Co for acquiring U.S.-origin items related to aviation simulation technology in support of China’s military modernization.
Small Leopard Electronics and its closely related company Shenzhen Dragonfly Supply Chain Co also were added to the list following Small Leopard’s evasive conduct during Commerce Department checks, according to the posting.
Detail Technology and Shenzhen Jiachuang Weiye Technology were added because they attempted to buy U.S-origin items for Iran’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs, the posting said.
The Chinese companies could not immediately be reached for comment.
The companies were among 26 entities added to the list, according to Monday’s posting. Besides the Chinese companies, one was added from Egypt, 16 from Pakistan and three from the United Arab Emirates.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York, David Shepardson in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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