EU spells out rules for ‘high risk’ 5G suppliers

European cybersecurity officials agreed on a series of measures to downsize Huawei’s presence in Europe due to concerns that it poses serious risks to the security of future 5G telecom networks.

The EU’s so-called 5G security toolbox marks the end of a year-long debate between Western security officials and the telecom industry on how to handle “high risk” suppliers from China, during which European governments were urged by U.S. officials to ban Huawei.

“Ensuring the cybersecurity of 5G networks is an issue of strategic importance for the Union,” the Commission wrote in a document accompanying the toolbox. Europe faces attacks from “a wide range of threat actors, in particular non-EU state or state-backed actors,” it added.

EU countries “agreed on the need to assess the risk profile of individual suppliers and, as a consequence, to apply relevant restrictions for suppliers considered to be high risk, including necessary exclusions,” it said.

The U.K. on Tuesday announced such measures, banning Huawei from “core” networks and capping its footprint at 35 percent in other parts. France passed a law last summer that also includes geographical restrictions, while other countries are following suit.

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