China’s Tungfang Weishi’s appeal dismissed, EU to continue surprise inspections.

China’s security equipment manufacturer, Nuctech, has announced that the European Union’s highest court has rejected its appeal to suspend the European Commission’s surprise inspection decision.

Nuctech had filed an appeal with the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which serves as the highest judicial body in the EU. According to Reuters on Thursday (March 27), the company stated, “We regret but respect the decision of the European Court of Justice to reject the request to suspend the execution of the European Commission’s surprise inspection decision.”

In 2024, the EU’s competition watchdog conducted surprise investigations at Nuctech’s offices to assess whether the Chinese company received improper government subsidies, submitted overly generous bids in EU public procurement tenders, and thus squeezed out European competitors.

Nuctech insists that it “has not received any illegal subsidies and has not engaged in behavior that distorts competition in the EU internal market” and also pledged to “continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities.”

Nuctech produces body and luggage scanning equipment for airports and ports, with its products deployed in over 170 countries worldwide. In 2020, the company was blacklisted by the US government, which viewed it as a security threat.

Nuctech is a company controlled by the Chinese government. In 2019, a unit of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation became the controlling shareholder of Nuctech’s parent company.

Nuctech’s screening systems for goods, luggage, and passengers are extensively used in European ports, transit points, and airports.

In 2022, Strasbourg Airport’s purchase agreement for luggage scanning equipment manufactured by Nuctech raised concerns among some European lawmakers. They called for the contract to be revoked until an independent investigation could be conducted to examine if Nuctech’s technology poses a spy risk.

In December of last year, officials at Polish airports announced that Warsaw Chopin Airport would discontinue the use of security scanners manufactured by Nuctech due to security concerns.