Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states reached an agreement on Tuesday to ban products resulting from forced labor from the European market, legislation likely to particularly concern Chinese production involving the Uyghur Muslim minority.
According to the compromise reached, member states or the European Commission must launch investigations in the event of suspicion of forced labor in companies' supply chains. If this use of forced labor is proven, the products concerned will be seized at the borders and withdrawn from the European market.
Fines may be imposed on companies violating the legislation. Their products can be allowed on the market again if they eliminate forced labor from their supply chain.
The Commission will establish a list of products and risk areas, in particular those where forced labor is organized by the State. This list will serve as criteria for opening an investigation.
This could particularly concern the Chinese region of Xinjiang: the American authorities, as well as several other Western countries, have condemned the practice of massive forced labor carried out by the Chinese government against the Uyghur minority, which Beijing contests.
A law adopted at the end of 2021 by the American Congress thus prohibits the United States from all imports of products from Xinjiang, unless companies in the region can prove that their production does not include forced labor.
“The prevalence of forced labor products in our market is becoming increasingly evident, particularly from Uyghur forced labor. This situation is unacceptable. We can no longer turn a blind eye to what is happening in our supply chains,” commented socialist MEP Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques, co-rapporteur of the text.
Forced labor affects some 27,6 million people worldwide, including 3,3 million children, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The EU executive will identify products or categories of products for which importers and exporters will need to provide EU customs with more precise information on the manufacturer and suppliers.
The agreement, based on a Commission proposal presented in September 2022, must still be formally approved by the Parliament and the Council (EU states).
“We ask the Member States to respect the agreement concluded (…) and to finalize the new law as soon as possible, contrary to what was done for the directive on the duty of vigilance”, still blocked by the Twenty-Seven, underlined MEP Raphaël Glucksmann (Socialists & Democrats group).
This directive imposing obligations on EU companies to protect the environment and human rights in their production chains has still not obtained the final green light from the Council despite the agreement reached between state negotiators and MEPs .
