Abstract. The two main results are: (1) Let 5 be a semigroup which satisfies the relation abcd=acbd, let A be a subsemigroup of Reg S which is a band of groups and let [] can be extended to a closed congruence on S.For a semigroup S let us define Reg (S) to be the set of those elements x of S for which there is an element y e S such that xyx = x and yxy =y. In this paper we consider the following question : Let 5 be a (compact topological) semigroup, let A be a (closed) subsemigroup of Reg (S) and let [9] he a (closed) congruence on A. When can [9] he extended to a (closed) congruence on S? That is, when is there a (closed) congruence [] on S such that [i>] n A x A = [9] ? It is known (cf. [6]) that any congruence on any sublattice of distributive lattice L can be extended to L. In fact this property, known as the congruence extension property, serves to characterize distributive lattices. The topological analog of this result for compact topological lattices of finite breadth was proved in [13]. In the same paper an example was given of a compact distributive topological lattice of infinite breadth which does not share this property.In [16] Wallace, in a result which he attributes to Borsuk, gives conditions under which, given a closed congruence [9] on a closed subsemigroup A of a compact semigroup S, [9] uASxS is a closed congruence on S. Further results of this nature were established by Borrego in [3]. In [12] the author showed implicitly that if 5 is a compact topological semigroup and [9] is a closed congruence on E(S), the set of idempotents of S, such that dim 9(E(S)) = 0 then [9] can be extended to a closed congruence on S.Our main result for nontopological semigroups is that if S is a semigroup which satisfies the relation abcd=acbd then any congruence on any subsemigroup A of Reg S where A is a band of groups can be extended to a congruence on S. For topological semigroups we obtain the result that if S is a compact topological semigroup which satisfies the relation abcd=acbd, Ais a closed subsemigroup of Reg (S) and [9] a closed congruence on A such that dim 9(A)/Jf=0, then [9]