 |
| Germany is trying to reach consensus on Huawei's risks |
According to the Reuters bill, Germany must reach consensus in the government to exclude devices from a telecommunications company that pose a threat to national security from the national 5G network.
The latest version of the Computer Security Act comes after months of wrangling in a coalition formed by Prime Minister Angela Merkel over crafting policy mechanisms to determine whether a supplier is trustworthy.
This course of action is also crucial in determining whether the Chinese company Huawei can remain in Germany or should be banned, as well as the United States and some of its allies.
The bill aims to reach a consensus between Merkel, who is committed to closing trade ties with China, and the Social Democrats' allies led by the foreign minister. Heiko Mas (Heiko Mas).
The UK has publicly announced that it will not use Huawei because it forces mobile operators to remove their devices from their networks, while France has issued an implicit ban.
With Huawei banning it from the 5G network for national security reasons, litigation has escalated in Sweden as well.
The latest version of the Federal Information Technology Security Law aims to establish a permanent committee composed of ministers and representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Economy and Foreign Affairs, to be formed by mutual agreement.
If the work committee does not reach a consensus, the matter is presented to the minister, and if no agreement is reached, government dispute settlement is implemented.
Using Huawei as an example, this complex process means that any potential blocking requires solid evidence and political conviction to demonstrate that its devices pose a safety risk.
For Huawei, this could be a tactical victory. Huawei denies US allegations that its devices contain spy backdoors and that this is Beijing.
For the three major German telecom carriers (Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom) that rely on Huawei, the bill is also good news: The cost of replacing the devices can run into billions of dollars.
Government sources said: The bill is expected to be submitted to Merkel's government for approval in December.