June 18 (SeeNews) - Romanian president Klaus Iohannis signed a bill under which companies involved in the development of the 5G telecommunications network in the country will be obliged to obtain approval from the National Defence Council (CSAT) for their operations, his office said.
The bill, which is largely seen as aiming to cut off Chinese technology company Huawei from this sector, was signed into law by Iohannis on June 11, a press release issued by the presidential administration showed. The Romanian Senate voted the law on June 7.
According to the bill published on the government's website, equipment and services provided by a 5G network operator which fails to get CSAT's approval can be used for another seven years if they are not included in the country's critical infrastructure and for another five years if they are part of core infrastructure.
The law stipulates that authorisation of 5G equipment and software providers is being granted by the prime minister, based on CSAT's assessment of the risks, threats and vulnerabilities to the country's security, within four months from the date of the assessment request.
Huawei is among the top three telecom ecquipment providers in Romania alongside Ericsson and Nokia, according to 2019 data quoted by local financial daily Ziarul Financiar.
Elsewhere in Southeast Europe, Serbia's president Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo prime minister Avdullah Hoti signed in September a U.S.-brokered agreement for the normalisation of economic ties between Belgrade and Pristina, which includes a commitment by both parties to remove and prohibit the use of 5G equipment delivered by "untrusted vendors" in their communication networks.
Later that month, a U.S. government officiaal said the U.S. government plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Serbia on the development of secure 5G network infrastructure to limit the Chinese expansion in the sector.
"5G MOU's are being planned with Ukraine, Georgia, and Serbia, to gain commitment from these partner countries to avoid using prohibited technologies," the Acting Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Philip Reeker, said at the time.