Huawei complaints against the EU for calling it a ‘high-risk’ vendor

Huawei has filed a complaint against the remarks made by EU Industry Chief Thierry Breton, calling it a “high-risk” supplier. The company filed its complaint with the European Ombudsman titled “The European Commission’s failure to reply to a letter saying that it had made denigrating comments about a telecom operator”. It was filed on September 8, 2023, and an investigation is underway as of October 5, 2023.

Breton commented on Huawei and ZTE during his report on the EU’s policy towards the future of 5G in the region on June 15, 2023. This report urges member EU countries to stop using Huawei and ZTE-labelled equipment.

“Entities considered high-risk suppliers, notably because they are subject to highly intrusive, third countries laws on national intelligence and data security,” said Breton at that time.

In a statement to POLITICO on Friday, Huawei said that the company “strongly opposes and disagrees with the comments made by the European Commission representatives publicly naming and shaming an individual company without legal basis while lacking any justification or due process,”.

A Huawei spokesperson mentioned that it is expecting the European Commission to address its claims and rectify its comments in order to safeguard Huawei’s reputation.

Michal Zuk, a communication officer for the EU watchdog said that the European Ombudsman found “Insufficient grounds” to open an inquiry against the second party. However, it has asked the Commission to send Huawei a reply to its complaint by November 3, 2023. In the meantime, Huawei made no further statement about the ongoing processes on this matter.

In 2019, the US banned Huawei from its network infrastructure and prohibited electronics goods supply to the company. Thereafter, the US also pursued its global partners including the EU to ban Huawei for posing a “National Security Threat” or alleging it was a High-Risk vendor but Huawei denies these claims.