The European Commission pushed forward a new cybersecurity act that will mandate the removal of telecommunications equipment made by "high-risk third-country suppliers" from its 5G networks, according to a Tuesday press release.

Once enacted into law, equipment from "high-risk" suppliers will have to be removed within three years, multiple media reports said.

The rules have drawn the ire of Chinese telecommunications suppliers Huawei and ZTE (HKG:0763, SHE:000063), the South China Morning Post reported separately the same day.

The proposed law did not name any country, but the term "high-risk" has been used to describe countries like China, the Associated Press said.

"With the new Cybersecurity Package, we will have the means in place to better protect our critical ICT supply chains but also to combat cyber attacks decisively," European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Henna Virkkunen said.

"A legislative proposal to limit or exclude non-EU suppliers based on country of origin, rather than factual evidence and technical standards, violates the EU's basic legal principles of fairness, non-discrimination, and proportionality, as well as its (World Trade Organization) obligations," Reuters quoted Huawei as saying.