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The European Union has chosen to disregard the U.S. Government's call for an outright ban on the use of Huawei’s telecommunications equipment, choosing instead to recommend that its 28 member nations share more data on cybersecurity risks associated with the next generation of mobile telephone networks, known as 5G.

The EU will not stop mobile operators in member states from using Huawei’s telecommunications equipment. Instead, the European Commission announced on Tuesday that its cybersecurity strategy will entail asking national governments to carry out individual risk assessments, which would then be pooled to help the EU decide if it needs to take further action, such as banning or restricting work with companies such as Huawei.

The strategy is partly in response to the growing number of countries, including the U.S. and Australia, that have banned working with Huawei to supply 5G infrastructure, because of fears that the Chinese Government could use the equipment to access sensitive data.

Huawei, a private company, has denied that it engages in cyber espionage and its founder has said the company would never hand over sensitive information to the Chinese Government.

Nevertheless, the U.S. has been lobbying allies in Europe to ban the use of Huawei’s equipment, saying it could be used by China to carry out cyber espionage. The U.S. has also warned that it could end security cooperation with countries that allow companies such as Huawei to supply part of its telecoms infrastructure.

“There are no compelling reasons that I can see to do business with the Chinese, so long as they have the structure in place to reach in and manipulate or spy on their customers,” Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, said in an interview this month. “Those who are charging ahead blindly and embracing the Chinese technology without regard to these concerns may find themselves in a disadvantage in dealing with us.”

But the EU stopped short of bowing to U.S. pressure.

”It's in our interest to take this security-based approach,” said Julian King, the EU’s security commissioner. “We need to do it for ourselves, not because anyone else has asked us to do this.”

The commission's approach is for all 28 countries to carry out a national risk assessment for their 5G networks by the end of June. After that, the national assessments will be pooled to prepare an EU-level assessment by October. By the end of the year, national cybersecurity officials will decide if there is a need for measures to tackle security risks.

By the end of October 2020, member states and the commission will assess the situation and decide whether new instruments are needed to deal with any risks that have been identified.

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