MEPs from the European Parliament’s Committees on the Internal Market (IMCO) and International Trade (INTA) have just two months to reach agreement on the regulation prohibiting products made with forced labour before it is put to the vote in committee on 19 September. During a debate on Tuesday 18 July, however, they showed that their differences persisted on the main points of the report by Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (S&D, Portuguese) and Samira Rafaela (Renew Europe, Dutch).
The shadow rapporteurs repeated their position already expressed in a previous exchange (see EUROPE 13186/8) on the reversal of the burden of proof, the inclusion of compensation for victims of forced labour and the content of the database that will accompany the regulation.
MEPs are also divided on whether or not to exempt SMEs from the scope of the regulation. This is not an option for the two co-rapporteurs, S&D and Renew Europe, as well as for the Greens/EFA and The Left. “This does not respect the logic of the instrument, which is based on products”, insisted Ms Leitão-Marques.
The EPP, ECR and ID say that companies already have more than enough obligations under the due diligence directive, and that SMEs should at least be excluded from the regulation prohibiting products made with forced labour.
On the other hand, the Renew Europe, S&D, Greens/EFA and The Left groups want to add to the scope of application certain service activities such as the transport or storage of goods, which they consider to have a high potential for forced labour. Here again, they face disagreement from the EPP, which claims that the product-based approach should be maintained. This is also the opinion of Svenja Hahn (Renew Europe, German), from the IMCO committee. Her opinion differs - on this and other points - from that of co-rapporteur Samira Rafaela, from the same group, but from the INTA committee.
Despite these divisions, Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques said she was confident of a rapid and satisfactory outcome in the coming months in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13215/1). However, her group will have to make concessions on some of the above points in order to secure a majority on the text.
To see the proposal for a report by the two co-reporters: https://aeur.eu/f/70o (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)