Huawei suing Romania over ban on 5G infrastructure deployment

The plaintiffs are the Chinese parent company, its Hong Kong-registered unit, along with its Romanian and Hungarian subsidiaries, according to court documents submitted to the Bucharest Court of Appeal and published on the justice ministry’s online portal on Tuesday.

Huawei’s bid for authorisation to deploy 5G network communication equipment was denied in February over national security concerns, according to a government decision published at the time in Romania’s official gazette. The government’s decision was based on a preceding resolution of Romania’s Supreme Council of National Defence, CSAT. Under Romanian law, communication providers must obtain prior authorisation from the prime minister, endorsed by CSAT, to utilise technologies, equipment, and software in 5G networks.

Huawei stated it was “disappointed by the Romanian government’s decision […] which is not based on any objective assessment,” invoking its presence in Romania for over 20 years, without any security or legal issues, as quoted by Romanian news portal HotNews in March.

In January 2020, the European Commission urged restrictions or prohibitions on "high-risk suppliers" in core and access components of 5G networks. In June 2023, most EU member states have transposed the recommendation into national law, with ten countries having used its prerogatives to restrict or exclude high-risk vendors. The Commission backed member states' efforts to curb Huawei and ZTE's role in 5G networks and pledged to apply the same cybersecurity principles to its own procurement of telecommunications services, avoiding exposure to the two Chinese vendors.