The European Parliament has been waiting for the European Commission to take action on the issue of the fight against forced labour. MEPs have repeatedly asked it to reveal its intentions on this issue, in particular whether a ban on the introduction of forced labour products to the European market would be included in the proposal on due diligence (see other news) or dealt with in a separate proposal.
The European Commission has therefore decided that the ban on forced labour products will be addressed in future legislation. In the meantime, it presented a communication and did not wish to communicate an approximate timetable for the publication of this instrument.
This document provides data on forced labour and child labour around the world and describes the actions the European Commission is already taking to combat this scourge: - work in international bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO); - trade agreements; - EU law with human rights implications such as the directive on trafficking in human beings, or the proposed directive on corporate sustainability reporting (CSRD), which is expected to be agreed in the Competitiveness Council on Thursday (see EUROPE 12896/15); - the EU’s enlargement policy.
As for the future proposal, the European Commission assures that “the instrument will cover all goods produced inside and outside the EU” and that it will combine a marketing authorisation ban with “a robust enforcement framework”. It added that the future instrument will be based on existing international standards, such as the concept of decent work developed by the ILO, and reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
See the communication: https://aeur.eu/f/h1 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)