Subjunctive tense. Since it is still not known whether they will comply or not, the verb is unconjugated. Writing "it complies" would be confusing. It's highly proper grammar and not used in everyday spoken speech and not used all the time in most written speech, but since this is more formal and written, it's used. It's one thing the NYT gets right.
From the Wikipedia article on English subjunctive: "The distinction between present and past is one of tense; the distinction between indicative and subjunctive is one of mood."
