According to a report published Wednesday by the Financial Times, the U.S. government is considering imposing sanctions on video surveillance giant Hikvision for its alleged role in enabling human rights abuses by the Chinese government.
The publication cited unnamed sources who say the Biden administration has already begun discussing the proposed sanctions with allies given the wide-reaching implications it could have on nations that use the company’s cameras and other surveillance products. However, the report also noted that a final decision has not yet been made nor did it specify which specific sanctions would be used.
“The potential action by the U.S. government, as reported, remains to be verified. We believe any such sanction should be based on credible evidence and due process. We look forward to being treated fairly and without bias,” a spokesperson for Hikvision said in a statement provided to SecurityInfoWatch.com
“Hikvision’s products and technologies serve vital roles in protecting people and society in over 150 countries, including the United States,” the statement continued. “Since entering global markets, Hikvision has and will continue to strictly comply with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, following internationally accepted business ethics and business standards. Like all other leading technology companies in the world, we are committed to ‘technology for good.’”
Just last week, it was reported that government officials in the UK are now more closely scrutinizing the use of Hikvision products by agencies there.
Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the UK, reportedly banned Hikvision from competing for new contracts within the Department of Health over concerns that the company’s technology has been used to keep tabs on China's minority Uyghur population by government officials in Xinjiang province. On the heels of this news, UK Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner Fraser Sampson subsequently sent a letter to government ministers across the country asking them to clarify their positions on buying cameras from Hikvision.
List of Punitive Actions Grows
While imposing sanctions would be an unprecedented step, Hikvision, along with several other China-based surveillance vendors, including Dahua and Hytera, have already faced a string of punitive measures taken against them in recent years, beginning with the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in 2018 that included an amendment that bans federal agencies from purchasing surveillance equipment from the aforementioned vendors.
After the NDAA went into effect in the summer of 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce in October of that year placed the companies on its “Entity List” along with 26 other Chinese governmental and commercial organizations, effectively prohibiting U.S.-based businesses for exporting their products to the named organizations.
Just a month later, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting U.S. companies and individuals from investing in Hikivsion as well as other companies previously identified as having links to the Chinese military. President Joe Biden amended this investment blacklist last June by adding nine additional companies. Hikvision was still included on the list and placed along with Huawei within a new subsection labeled, “Surveillance Technology Sector of the Economy of the PRC.”
Among the most significant actions take against these companies, however, occurred last November when President Biden signed the Secure Equipment Act into law. The legislation requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt a rule banning new equipment authorizations for Hikvision, Dahua and other manufacturers on its so-called “Covered List” of organizations whose equipment and services have been deemed as posing a threat to national security. The FCC was given a year from the law’s enactment in which to enact the rule, which will essentially eliminate the ability of these companies to bring new products to market in the U.S.
Joel Griffin is the Editor of SecurityInfoWatch.com and a veteran security journalist. You can reach him at [email protected].
