MEPs on the Committee on International Trade (INTA) in the European Parliament adopted on Monday 16 May a draft resolution for future legislation to ban products made by forced labour from the European market. The European Commission’s DG Trade and DG Internal Market are due to present a legislative initiative on the subject in September (see EUROPE 12939/11, 12897/6).
Rapporteur Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) proposed a text setting out the main principles that MEPs believe the future instrument should follow. The future tool must prohibit the import and export of products manufactured or transported by forced labour and must be compatible with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. The criteria for defining forced labour should be those of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Regarding the scope of the mechanism, it should be able to cover products from production sites, importers, or even particular regions where forced labour is subsidised by the State, say MEPs. The latter refers to the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where forced labour camps are located.
As for the functioning of the instrument, the resolution provides examples, but not a precise framework. MEPs provide that public authorities may temporarily detain goods if they consider that there is sufficient evidence of forced labour or if the goods come from areas where the practice is prevalent and supported by the State. However, importers must have the opportunity to prove the contrary to the authorities in order to release their products.
MEPs add that the European Commission must be able to conduct investigations on the basis of alerts of various kinds. However, they state that companies found liable must provide compensation to affected workers.
The INTA Committee does not mention an exemption from the obligations for SMEs (see EUROPE 12939/11), but it calls on the European Commission to offer technical support to these companies in the implementation of the future instrument.
Finally, a list of sanctioned entities and regions should be made available to the public, according to MEPs.
See the draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/1ny (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)