Products made using forced labour will soon be banned from the EU’s internal market. On Tuesday 23 April, MEPs voted by a large majority in favour of the provisional agreement on the regulation that will ban these products (see EUROPE 13364/7) (555 votes in favour, 6 against and 45 abstentions). “There have been many challenges along the way, but the regulation will be groundbreaking and unique”, Samira Rafaela (Renew Europe, Dutch), the European Parliament’s co-rapporteur for the text, told her colleagues on Monday 22 April.
Many elected representatives welcomed the risk-based approach adopted. The reversal of the burden of proof, as requested by the two rapporteurs, is not included in the agreement. It is up to the authorities to prove the presence of forced labour.
The European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, pointed out that the agreement approved would involve the European Commission more than it had initially planned, necessitating an adjustment to the budget. The Commission will have to carry out investigations outside the EU.
The Council still has to adopt the text, the rules of which will only start to apply in three years’ time.
See the text of the agreement: https://aeur.eu/f/bwg (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)