Angela Lang/CNET

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers on Sunday reversed restrictions it had slapped on Huawei last week, letting the Chinese company's scientists review its papers once again.

"Our initial, more restrictive approach was motivated solely by our desire to protect our volunteers and our members from legal risk," the US publisher wrote in its statement.

The IEEE, which publishes around 200 journals and magazines, has 422,000 members worldwide. It touts itself as "the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity."

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Its ban on Huawei was apparently motivated by fear of "severe legal implications" after the Trump administration banned the company from using US-made technology on May 15, following years of allegations that it's linked to the Chinese government.

Huawei didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

It found itself in a similar situation with tech standards groups SD Association, Wi-Fi Alliance, JEDEC and Bluetooth last week -- each seemed to temporarily restrict the company, but changed their minds soon afterwards.

First published at 5 a.m. PT.

Updated at 5:40 a.m. PT: Adds more detail.