Just Published! European Commission Proposal to ban products made from forced labour.
It prohibits economic operators from placing and making available on the Union market or exporting from the Union market products made with forced labour (Article 3).
🔹 It applies to domestically produced and imported goods;
🔹 Complaints of and violations would be investigated by competent authorities with a possibility to use facts available;
🔹 There will be a “non-exhaustive, verifiable and regularly updated database of forced labour risks” based on geographic areas or specific products.
🔹 It builds on existing International Labour Organization definitions (Article 2)
The context?
Forced labour is a matter of global concern addressed by the ILO, the OECD - OCDE, and the #G7. United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 commits to eradicating forced labour by 2030.
On the EU level, Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen used her 2021 State of the Union to announce a future legislative instrument. A Communication on decent work worldwide published back in February set the stage. And lets not forget the proposal for a Directive on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains. The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an import ban on products produced with forced labour from entering the EU market in June this year.
The EU is not the first mover to propose legislation – in the US, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021.
This proposal will now continue through the inter-institutional legislative process.
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