Gasgoo Munich-Fourteen Members of the European Parliament recently called on the European Commission to evaluate whether BYD vehicles pose a security threat—and whether restrictions should follow, such as excluding the automaker from public procurement projects.
Image Source: BYD
On Nov. 4, the lawmakers submitted a written query to the EU executive branch, asking the EU cybersecurity agency to evaluate BYD's security risks and consider placing the automaker on a high-risk supplier list.
The push was led by French MEP Francois Kalfon. In a preamble to the query, he argued that allowing connected vehicles from third countries to access sensitive European infrastructure poses an unacceptable security risk.
BYD pushed back, stating that data from its European vehicles—whether stored in the cloud or on-board—cannot be accessed remotely from China, and local users retain full control over their information. In a statement to Reuters, the company said: "BYD Europe will not provide such data to BYD entities in China or third parties within Chinese territory."
The MEPs also pressed the Commission to clarify whether it plans to bar Chinese vehicles from dual-use strategic infrastructure—and whether it would consider blocking BYD from public procurement projects.
In September, the Commission proposed new public procurement rules that could raise the share of local European products and services in awarded contracts. Even so, BYD could still qualify for these projects: the automaker already operates a plant in Hungary and plans to build more factories across Europe.
The Commission typically has six weeks to respond to such parliamentary queries.
On Nov. 4, Kalfon also wrote to French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, urging the government to adopt measures that would mitigate potential security threats from Chinese connected vehicles.
