Chinese surveillance equipment banned from UK government buildings

Last week, the UK House of Commons approved a bill to completely ban the use of surveillance technology and equipment in government buildings and military bases. The new bill will now go to the House of Lords for approval before it officially comes into effect.

Hikvision is supplying surveillance cameras to at least a third of police forces in England and Wales.

The move comes amid growing concerns about spying, with a British parliamentary researcher arrested in March on charges of spying for a foreign country.

Accordingly, the new regulation will set out public procurement rules in government operations, while removing a large amount of equipment of Chinese origin from public places.

British lawmakers have called for a ban on the sale and use of security cameras made by Hikvision and Dahua, mainland companies partly owned by Beijing, over data privacy concerns.

The UK government's independent CCTV watchdog says at least a third of police forces in England and Wales now use surveillance cameras made by Hikvision.

Sam Goodman, director of the London-based China Strategic Risk Institute, said the new regulation “is the next step in making Hikvision and Dahua a thing of the past in this country.”

The two Chinese companies declined to comment on the House of Commons move, but Hikvision has previously said it was “completely wrong” to label the company a national security threat. Dahua, meanwhile, said it had been serving customers in the UK for the past six years and strictly complied with all regulations.

The UK government has also pledged to provide annual updates to parliament on the number of cameras removed so lawmakers can monitor progress on implementing the new rules.

(According to Nikkei)

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thiet-bi-giam-sat-nguon-goc-trung-quoc-bi-cam-tai-anh-2190997.html