Brussels (Brussels Morning) – The European Parliament plans to ban products linked to forced labour, primarily aimed at China. This move seeks to combat human rights abuses and uphold ethical trade practices.
The European Parliament has endorsed sweeping new regulations designed to stamp out products tainted with forced labour from the EU market. The new law – ratified on Tuesday with 555 votes in acceptance, 6 against and 45 abstentions – is developed to clean up both the bloc’s import and export markets from connections to modern slavery and human rights violations.
According to Euronews, Despite involving products manufactured anywhere in the world, the law is noticed as a deliberate move against nations such as Turkmenistan or China, where there is documented evidence of state-sponsored forced labour.
How Will the EU Commission Handle Investigations?
Under the new law rubber-stamped on Tuesday and anticipated to come into force in 2027 pending final consent of member states, national authorities will be capable of launching investigations into products with doubted links to forced labour, and ban such products from the EU market.
In case of apprehensions related to countries outside the bloc, the EU Commission will be able to begin probes and call on third-country governments to perform inspections on the suspected cases of slave labour.
What Consequences Await Non-Compliant Companies?
Products driven from forced labour seen to be already on the EU market will be donated, recycled or eradicated, and companies failing to implement the rules will face proportionate and dissuasive penalties, to be defined by the member states.
“This is good news for consumers, and also for European companies, which are currently suffering from imports dumping from regions with forced labour,” stated Green MEP Anna Cavazzini ahead of the vote.
The move seeks to curb a worrying trend of inexpensive products made from forced labour pervading throughout the EU market, as well as an expansion in the number of people in forced labour and a boom in illegal profits over the past decade.
Why is the Move Significant for European Businesses?
The International Labour Organisation assesses that at least 28 million people around the world are in a situation of forced labour, rendering a total of $236 billion (€217 billion) a year.
A recent report found connections between dozens of major European clothing brands and forced labour in internment camps in China’s Xinjiang region, where there is recorded evidence of systemic abuses against Uyghurs and other minority ethnic groups.
The report figured that brands such as Sweden-based H&M and Zara – a Spanish multinational – could be sourcing fabrics made by Uyghurs in the notorious confinement camps in Xinjiang, the province which accounts for a calculated 90% of Chinese cotton and some 20% of world supply.
In the US, a 2021 regulation bans goods manufactured in Xinjiang, with importers lawfully obliged to provide proof any products linked to the region are made without forced labour.
Last year, US lawmakers undertook an investigation into Chinese-owned retail giants Shein and Temu – which have witnessed immense growth in the EU market – as well as Adidas and Nike for likely links to Uyghur forced labour.
First tabled by the EU Commission in September 2022, the EU bill has met multiple hurdles and long delays, with many worrying it would not be wrapped up in the current mandate.
But a quick deal was struck between the parliament and EU capitals in early March, letting the hemicycle deliver its green light during this week’s marathon final sitting before June’s European elections.
