Chinese airport security scanner maker raided in EU crackdown

Airport security

The offices of a Chinese airport security scanner manufacturer have been raided by European Union officials amid a crackdown on subsidies from Beijing.

Local authorities in the Netherlands and Poland targeted the offices of Nuctech on Tuesday morning, seizing mobile phones and IT equipment.

The partly state-owned company, which makes baggage security scanners, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months owing to security concerns.

However, the decision to raid its offices comes amid growing tensions between the EU and China, as Brussels has increasingly sought to halt Beijing-backed companies flooding Europe with cheap products.

Already, EU policymakers have targeted China’s electric car market over claims that it has received billions of pounds in state backing from Beijing, with investment used to launch new cars in Europe.

A separate investigation into China’s medical device market was also launched by Brussels on Wednesday amid concerns that European rivals were being denied fair access to the country.

Nuctech’s baggage scanning and X-ray machines are used across Europe at airports and seaports, although its technology has been barred in Lithuania because of security fears.

The US has also placed Nuctech on a national security blacklist after claiming in 2020 that the company risked hampering efforts to “counter illicit international trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive materials”.

America’s Department of Homeland Security has also said that Nuctech “very likely has a close and enduring relationship with the Chinese government”.

Nuctech has denied that is a security threat to the West.

A statement from the company in December said: “All data generated by our devices belongs to Nuctech customers only. Neither to us, nor the EU member states, and by no means the Chinese government.”

The company has multiple contracts in the UK and features on approved procurement lists from the Department of Transport, including an explosives detection system.

The European Commission declined to comment on the raid, nor did it confirm the name of the company involved. However local media and MEPs have named Nuctech.

Tom Berendsen, a Dutch MEP, said: “This morning, EU and [Dutch] authorities raided Nuctech in Rotterdam, a company that supplies Chinese customs scanners in our ports. Our ports are gateways to Europe, but we are handing over the keys to China.”

The intervention marks the first time that the EU has used its new anti-subsidy regime, announced last year, to carry out a raid. The European Commission said it had concerns that the “inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market”.

However, Chinese industry representatives criticised the EU’s raid and accused it of “weaponising” new regulations.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the European Union said: “Without prior notice, enforcement agencies authorised by the European Commission conducted raids at the company’s offices in both countries in the morning.

“They seized the company’s IT equipment and employees’ mobile phones, scrutinised office documents, and demanded access to pertinent data.”

It said the EU had the “clear intention to weaponise the foreign subsidies regulation tool to suppress lawfully operating Chinese companies”.

Nuctech was contacted for comment.

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