Catchy Headline: Sandvine Removed from U.S. Trade Blacklist Following Reforms

The United States has removed Canada-based network equipment company Sandvine from its trade restriction list after it accepted corporate governance and business practice reforms to protect human rights. The Department of Commerce confirmed this decision on Monday, highlighting Sandvine's commitment to ethical business practices and the protection of digital rights.

Previously, in February, the U.S. government added Sandvine to the Entity List due to allegations of providing technology to the Egyptian government used to target human rights activists and dissidents. The company specializes in deep packet inspection technology that allows for the examination and management of network traffic. At that time, the State Department criticized Sandvine for supplying tools that enabled mass web surveillance, censorship, and the injection of commercial spyware onto the devices of critics and dissenters.

In response to being listed, Sandvine has since shifted its business model to focus on democracies committed to human rights. The company has withdrawn from 32 non-democratic countries and is in the process of exiting 24 more. Sandvine is also actively monitoring the potential misuse of its technology in the countries where it still operates.

As a result of being on the Entity List, Sandvine was previously restricted from acquiring U.S. goods and technology without a special license, which was likely to be denied. According to Commerce official Matthew Borman, Sandvine's removal from the list exemplifies how the Entity List can influence corporate behavior to support human rights and digital security.

In contrast to Sandvine's removal, the Commerce Department has added six Chinese companies, including Beijing Moreget Creative Technology Co, Detail Technology, and Shenzhen Jiachuang Weiye Technology, to the Entity List for actions supporting China’s military modernization and Iran’s weapons of mass destruction and drone programs. These companies could not be reached for immediate comment.

The latest update to the Entity List includes a total of 26 new entities, in addition to the Chinese firms, with one from Egypt, 16 from Pakistan, and three from the United Arab Emirates. Most of the Pakistani entities were listed due to contributions to the country’s ballistic missile program.

Entities from Egypt and the UAE were added for procuring U.S.-origin parts to bypass U.S. restrictions applied to Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.