Forced labour is a matter of global concern. It has been addressed by the ILO, the OECD, and the G7. Indeed, 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 address to announce a future legislative instrument intended to tackle the use of forced labour in global value chains. A Communication on decent work worldwide was published in February 2022 and the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation prohibiting forced labour across global value chains was announced in September 2022.

The proposed Regulation on prohibiting products made from forced labour on the Union market seeks to tackle this issue in a number of different ways. 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).

• applies to domestically produced and imported goods;

• specifies that complaints of and violations would be investigated by competent authorities;

• establishes a “non-exhaustive, verifiable and regularly updated database of forced labour risks” based on geographic areas or specific products; and

• builds on exisiting ILO defintiitons (Article 2).

In November 2023, the European Parliament voted its report.

On 26 January 2024, the Council published its common approach paving the way for trilogues to commence.