Legislation to combat forced labour more effectively, although still being drafted by the European Commission, is becoming clearer, according to a document seen by EUROPE on Monday 25 July.
Firstly, the Commission is reportedly working on a regulation and not a directive, according to an EU source consulted on 27 July. According to the note, the aim of this legislative initiative is to effectively ban the placing on the EU market of products made wholly or in part by forced labour, i.e. to prohibit their marketing.
The ban would cover both domestic products produced within the EU and those imported from third countries. The initiative would combine “a ban with a robust risk-based enforcement framework”.
The new instrument will build on international standards and complement existing EU horizontal and sectoral initiatives, in particular due diligence and transparency obligations.
For example, the international standards cited in the document include the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the common guidelines of the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS).
Several European legislations are also mentioned, such as the regulation on responsible minerals, the proposed regulation on batteries or the proposed directive on corporate sustainable development due diligence.
Implementation would be risk-based and “likely” carried out by the competent authorities of the Member States. The Commission would play a supporting role “to promote a coherent enforcement across Member States” it says. This would be, for example, through guidelines and by facilitating that relevant information related to forced labour is made available.
This initiative was announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in September 2021, following the scandals related to Chinese oppression of the Muslim Uighur minority.
The European Commission opened a call for evidence on the ban on forced labour products in May (see EUROPE 12958/26). Last June, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a ban on forced labour products in the internal market (see EUROPE 12968/23).
The initiative is long overdue. In 2006, MEPs were already calling for action to ban products made in Chinese and other forced labour camps, the Laogai camps, inspired by US action in this area (see EUROPE 9190/8).
To read the European Commission’s PowerPoint presentation: https://aeur.eu/f/2qs (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)