EC Cautions Spain Over Deal with Huawei

The European Commission warned Spain over a decision to award Huawei a €12 million wiretap contract. The EC said that the decision goes against its long-term stance of not allowing so-called high-risk vendors to install new telecoms equipment in the bloc.

The EC has cautioned Spain against relying on Huawei, stating the company represents materially higher risks than other suppliers. Its comments come after it emerged last week that Spain had signed a contract with Huawei for the vendor to provide hardware to store wiretaps, used for law enforcement and by Spain’s intelligence services. Apparently, news of the contract led to two senior US lawmakers asking the US government to review its intelligence sharing with Spain.

The EC has told operators across the European Union to place restrictions on high-risk suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE, including a stop on the installation of new equipment. Two years ago, then European Commissioner Thierry Breton bemoaned slow progress in placing restrictions on vendors deemed high risk, while stating those that excluded the two Chinese vendors from 5G build-outs were justified in doing so and in line with its recommendations. It also released a 5G toolbox of policy recommendations, tailored to the bloc’s cybersecurity.

Spain is one of the EU’s most China-friendly nations, while Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has a testy relationship with US President Donald Trump. Huawei, which has always maintained its equipment is not used for spying, stated its products in Spain strictly comply with local laws and regulations, as with applicable product admission criteria and standards.