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Forced Labour Regulation: EU Parliament to decide on 23 April 2024

Apr 23, 2024 , ,
shoes, factory, man
The EU scrutinizes the labour conditions of import markets. Photo by This_is_Engineering on Pixabay.

Strasbourg, 22 April 2024

Following a final plenary vote on Thursday, rapporteurs Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques (S&D, PT) and Samira Rafaela (Renew, NL) will discuss new rules banning products made with force labour.

The new forced labour regulation will give the EU a right to ban the sale, import and export of products made using forced labour. The ban would be based on the results of an investigation conducted by member state authorities or the European Commission. Banned products would have to be withdrawn from the EU market and donated, recycled or destroyed. Non-compliant companies could be fined. However, goods would be allowed back on the market if the company eliminates forced labour from its supply chains.

Further information

 

Statement by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the EU Parliament Plenary debate on on the Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market

Strasbourg, 22 April 2024

Allow me to thank the Parliament for giving me the opportunity to speak on this important legislative initiative: the proposal for a Regulation to prohibit products made with forced labour on the Union market.

The fight against forced labour is a political priority for this Commission.

As forced labour continues to exist and even grow, the European Union needs an effective tool to avoid products made with forced labour from being placed on the EU market.

For example, the latest ILO report issued last month estimates the total illegal annual profits from forced labour at US $236 billion, approximately €208 billion.

This is €64 billion more as compared to the previous estimate from a decade ago.

Therefore, this measure is urgently needed to provide strong incentives for companies and governments to ensure respect for human rights and better labour protection, in line with international commitments agreed by a large majority of countries, as well as to make sure that the economic operators produce their products without using forced labour. We cannot allow companies to profit from forced labour by selling their products in the single market.

The Commission welcomes the trilogue agreement reached in early March by the European Parliament and the Council on the draft regulation.

I would like to congratulate the Parliament, and especially the co-rapporteurs Ms Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques and Ms Samira Rafaela, for their remarkable work on this file.

We expect that the agreed text will lead to a balanced and effective instrument based on elements included in the provisional agreement such as the close cooperation between Member States and the Commission, as well as the implementation of a risk-based approach and the approach to state-imposed forced labour.

The main change brought by the agreed text compared with the initial Commission proposal concerns the governance mechanism, which will result in the Commission taking on the large majority of cases.

The instrument will only be as strong and effective as the team implementing it.

So, going forward, we count on Parliament and Council to ensure that the Commission will have enough resources to be able to deliver for the Union and meet the objective of helping to eradicate forced labour and ban the products made with forced labour from the Union market.

The Commission has prepared a formal statement on the financing of resources for the implementation of the Regulation. The statement was sent to the Parliament’s services for inclusion in the verbatim record of this debate.

Let me thank again the Parliament for its hard work throughout the negotiations on this file and encourage you to endorse the instrument as provisionally agreed with the Council.

Thank you.

Source – EU Commission

 

S&D Group: EU to ban products made with forced labour – a progressive tool against modern slavery

Tomorrow, the European Parliament will put the final seal on the first EU law to ban products made with forced labour from reaching the EU market, regardless if they were made in the EU or any third country. Shirts, shoes or cars, made by enslaved Uyghurs, Turkmens, or forced workers anywhere, should not be sold in our shops or online anymore.

For the S&Ds, it is a huge victory, as it was our group who initiated this fight to create a robust instrument to help eradicate modern slavery.

Under the new rules, the Commission will be responsible for carrying out investigations into cases of forced labour outside the EU, while member states will carry out investigations within the EU. If the investigation concludes that forced labour has been used, goods will have to be withdrawn from the EU market and online marketplaces, and then donated, recycled or destroyed. The Commission will establish a database with a list of specific economic sectors in specific geographic areas where state-imposed forced labour takes place.

Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques, European Parliament co-rapporteur of the forced labour ban in the committee on the internal market and consumer protection (IMCO), said:

“This new law is one of the biggest achievements of this legislature, and a victory for our political family. The EU is putting workers and human rights at the heart of our international trade and internal market. It is simply unacceptable for our Union, which should be a global champion in promoting values, to continue importing and selling in our shops products that were made with blood and tears at some step along their supply chain.

“This new law is also good news for all the companies that suffer from unfair competition from companies that use forced labour.

However, now we must make sure that it this new anti-forced labour tool is properly implemented. The European Commission needs sufficient resources to carry out new tasks, including inspections in third countries. We will also have to closely cooperate with international partners, like the US and Canada, to prevent operators who are blocked by one country from selling their forced labour products somewhere else.”

Raphaël Glucksmann, S&D MEP and shadow rapporteur on this file in the committee on international trade (INTA), said:

“After years of civic mobilisation and political battles, we finally have a first-ever European law to block products made with forced labour. European citizens will be able to dress, move around, or use their smartphones, without fear of being complicit in crimes against humanity.

“Today we also prove that the European Parliament has immense powers in matters of foreign affairs. Provided we use the right leverage, starting with trade or the internal market, we can use the power of the European market to the fight against slavery in the world. 28 million people worldwide are forced into labour and it is high time to start seriously fighting against this business of human misery.”

Note to editors:

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2021, almost 28 million people worldwide were in forced labour – 3 million more than in 2016. ILO estimates that forced labour generates €217 billion per year of illegal profits – a dramatic increase of 37% since 2014.

Source – S&D Group via e-mail

 

Die Grünen/EFA: Europaparlament stimmt diese Woche für Meilenstein bei der Verteidigung von Menschenrechten

Strasbourg, 22 April 2024

Diese Woche stimmt das Europaparlament über zwei wichtige Gesetze final ab, die Menschenrechtsverletzungen in den EU-Lieferketten angehen werden. Am Dienstag, dem 23.04. wird das Parlament zum Verbot von Produkten aus Zwangsarbeit abstimmen und am Mittwoch, dem 24.04., über das EU-Lieferkettengesetz.

Die Grüne Europaabgeordnete Anna Cavazzini, Vorsitzende des Ausschusses für Binnenmarkt und Verbraucherschutz und Grüne Verhandlungsführerin für das Verbot von Produkten aus Zwangsarbeit sowie Verhandlungsführerin für das EU-Lieferkettengesetz im Handelsausschuss, kommentiert diese Abstimmungen in der Annahme, dass beide Gesetze angenommen werden, wie folgt:

Weltweit sind etwa 28 Millionen Menschen von Zwangsarbeit betroffen und viele der Produkte landen auf dem EU-Binnenmarkt. Doch bald ist endlich Schluss damit. Das Europaparlament stimmt dem Verbot von Produkten aus Zwangsarbeit zu und stellt damit sicher, dass Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher in der EU keine Angst mehr haben müssen, dass ihre Lieblingsjeans oder ihr morgendlicher Kaffee unter Zwang hergestellt oder geerntet wurden.

Damit nutzt die Europäische Union ihre Marktmacht, um Zwangsarbeit weltweit zu bekämpfen. Das ist eine gute Nachricht für die Menschenrechte weltweit, aber auch für europäische Unternehmen, die aktuell unter Dumping-Importen aus Regionen mit Zwangsarbeit leiden.”

“Menschenrechte haben trotz einer intensiven Lobbykampagne gegen das EU-Lieferkettengesetz gesiegt. Ich freue mich sehr, dass sich eine Mehrheit der Mitgliedstaaten und nun auch das Europaparlament trotz der Blockadehaltung der FDP und der CDU/CSU diesem wichtigen Gesetz zugestimmt haben.

Zusammen mit dem Verbot von Produkten aus Zwangsarbeit setzt die EU damit ein wichtiges Zeichen für unsere globale Verantwortung. Dadurch verbessern wir die Arbeitsbedingungen von Menschen in der EU und darüber hinaus. Damit beendet das Europaparlament seine Legislaturperiode mit einem Paukenschlag für die Menschenrechte.“

 

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