ZTE has been removed from a US Department of Commerce blacklist after agreeing to settle an investigation over its alleged sale of equipment with US components to Iran.
The department will lift export restrictions that would have prevented restricted suppliers from providing ZTE with any US-made components, Reutersreported.
But the Commerce Department will also impose strict restrictions on former ZTE CEO Shi Lirong, who has been accused of approving efforts to deliberately circumvent US sanctions on the supply of US technology to Japan.
The department has accused Shi of approving a written business plan to use shell companies to secretly export the components to Iran in violation of the sanctions.
Earlier this month, ZTE agreed to pay $892.3 million to settle the investigation into the matter, and announced the introduction of a range of new compliance-focused procedures, as well as structural and personnel changes.
At the time, CEO Dr Zhao Xianming said the company “acknowledges the mistakes it made, takes responsibility for them, and remains committed to positive change in the company.”
The provision for the settlement led to the Chinese vendor reporting a 2.36 billion yuan ($342.7 million) net loss for 2016.