On 26 March, the European commission published a recommendation designed to ensure the security of Europe’s 5G networks. You could be forgiven for having missed it, given that it was announced in what could hardly have been described as a “quiet EU news period”.

However, the proposals are far-reaching and reflect the urgent need for coordinated action as we fast approach a technological tipping point of potentially profound significance. 5G licence auctions are continuing, and the scale of investment required and the complexity of the kit involved mean that any decisions made will have long-term implications, so the need for action is now. EU member states have already made legal commitments that require them to prioritise security in electronic communication, data privacy and critical infrastructure. By bringing these together and throwing a spotlight on their strategic importance, our aim is to ensure that they are applied fully in practice.

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We are following up with three steps. First, member states should carry out a national risk assessment, to identify potential security risks – both technical, such as hardware and software vulnerabilities, and, importantly, non-technical, such as the legal framework applying to third-country suppliers – and to update their measures to mitigate these risks by the end of June.

Second, these national risk assessments should be shared and woven into a European risk framework for 5G network security by 1 October. As a third step, best practice in terms of national mitigation measures will be turned into a toolbox of measures to be taken at national and European level in order to mitigate security threats to 5G networks in the EU by 31 December. All of this will be done in a new reinforced framework, bringing together key cyber-experts from across all member states, and to be set up by the end of April.

Q&A What is 5G? Show Hide 5G is the next generation mobile phone network and it promises much higher connection speeds, lower latency (response times) and to be more reliable than the creaking 4G networks we have now. It will be much faster, with download speeds 5-10 times quicker than 4G to start with, meaning a movie will download in seconds rather than minutes. Over the next few years it should become even faster, as the technology matures. It will also have lower latency, the time it takes for something to happen: tap a link and the download will start faster. But perhaps the most important thing 5G will immediately do for users is increase the carrying capacity of the masts, meaning more people can connect at the same time. Despite the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection declaring it to be safe for humans, the technology has been criticised by conspiracy theorists, including celebrities, who have associated it with the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, leading to vandalism attacks on 5G towers. Samuel Gibbs, consumer technology editor

Work is further advanced in some member states than others – France, for example, is planning a new law that will put into place rules on the operation of certain telecommunications equipment, targeted at 5G networks. And Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre has reported on the cybersecurity risks of 5G, notably on those posed by Huawei, with the UK reportedly taking a risk-based approach to Huawei’s involvement in non-core parts of the network – something in line with our recommendation. Given the Europe-wide security implications, we need all member states to step up to the plate, but we also need to build a common approach where a joint assessment of risks underpins shared decisions.

The recommendation is not targeted at one company, or one country. Indeed, Europe has an open market – anyone who abides by the rules can access it. Much of the public debate focuses on China, given the dominant position it is seeking to build. But we want to create an objective process, based on a thorough analysis of the risks and vulnerabilities of 5G networks, that delivers a common approach to dealing with those risks and vulnerabilities. Therefore our starting point is not rooted in blanket bans of equipment suppliers or services, but to identify what is core in our future networks and, having done this, what level of risk, if any, we are ready to accept. That said, as the recommendation makes clear, at the end of this process later this year, possible mitigating measures could include identifying products, services or suppliers that are considered potentially not secure.

In doing this we need to challenge the current orthodoxy that has applied to 4G, which makes price the key decision-making determinant. We want to put security back at the heart of these decisions. Building-in security for a network that will be the superhighway of all of our data and much of our lives is surely something worth paying a little more for.

• Sir Julian King is European commissioner for the Security Union