Huawei advocates for amendments to Romania’s 5G draft law

Chinese telecom equipment and software producer Huawei argues for significant amendments to the 5G draft bill that the Romanian Government submitted for endorsement to the Parliament.

The bill sets guidelines for the licensing of 5G equipment and technology suppliers, hence it must be promulgated before the auction for the frequency bands allocated to such services.

The Chinese company wants the Parliament’s expert committees to officially invite suppliers, telecom operators, and consumer associations to the debates on the bill.

The Justice Ministry, the Competition Council, the Economic and Social Committee, and the Legislative Council have expressed views about the bill not complying with the EU recommendations (namely including technical guidelines and clearly separating the critical from non-critical infrastructure assets), Huawei argues.

On the one hand, Huawei warns against the negative impact of the 5G bill as it is (EUR 2.56 bln direct losses and EUR 4.67 bln indirect losses) and suggests amendments to the bill. At the same time, it claims that it is not a threat to security but a security supplier through its technologies.

As regards the concrete amendments Huawei proposes, they are two. Firstly, the Chinese company wants the 5G bill to refer to the EU 5G toolkit and the legislative practices of other EU member states (e.g. Germany and Finland) and reduce the scope (of the licensing requirements) to the sensitive area, namely to the 5G core network.

Secondly, Huawei suggests managing the cybersecurity risks by technical means - a procedure that has been fully verified in EU member states. Germany and Finland have introduced technical standards (such as the GSMA NESAS standard) in the relevant legislation of their respective countries, Huawei argues.

Notably, both requirements expressed by Huawei would make the 5G bill subject to the EU notification procedures, meaning the document should be first submitted to the Commission for endorsement before the promulgation.

In related news, Hotnews.ro reports letters sent by a variety of Chinese companies and associations, more or less related to the telecom area, asking the Romanian authorities to amend the 5G bill in the sense advocated by Huawei.

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