UPDATE 1-White House to release first rule on Wednesday for Huawei ban for U.S. govt contractors

The White House Office of Management and Budget is slated on Wednesday to release an interim rule for a ban on federal purchases of telecommunications equipment from five Chinese companies, including Huawei, a senior administration official said. The ban was part of a defense law passed last year and is part of a broad U.S. push against Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world’s largest telecoms network gear maker, which Washington accuses of espionage and stealing intellectual property.

Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government, military or intelligence services. It has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the restrictions in the defense policy bill. The defense law called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), placed a broad ban on the use of federal money to purchase products from "covered" telecommunications companies, citing national security concerns.

Aside from Huawei, the other companies include ZTE Corporation, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua. Contractors have said they are confused about the scope of the ban and what it will mean for their businesses.

The first rule implementing the ban will be posted on Wednesday on a website for contractors run by the General Services Administration (GSA), the government agency responsible for contracting. The rule is slated to take effect on Aug. 13. It will allow agencies some ability to grant waivers for contractors where security is not at issue, the official said.

The broader ban - which will apply to contracts with any company that uses equipment from the companies - will take effect on August 2020. In June, the OMB had asked Congress for two additional years to phase in the ban - a request that was quickly rebuffed by Republican national security hawks.

Also Read: New Huawei Y9 Prime 2019 goes on Sale in India, August 7, 2019 on Amazon.in

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)