EU Forced Labor Regulation Advancing

Oct. 23, 2023
By: Pietro N. Bianchi

The European Union took another step toward banning imports of goods made with forced labor from its market when the European Parliament’s Internal Market and International Trade committees adopted a draft of the regulation. This draft still must go through several layers of bureaucracy and may not be implemented any time soon. But there are noteworthy elements solidifying in Europe’s proposed forced labor regulation.

The definition of forced labor was expanded to align with the International Labor Organization’s definition, “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.” The EU’s draft regulation outlines forced labor investigations and determinations. The draft regulation states that if it is proved goods were created with forced labor, they will be prevented from entering the European market and will be donated, recycled, or destroyed if they already entered the market. Goods that are proven to be made with forced labor can be allowed back in the European market once the importer proves that forced labor was eliminated and remediated from the supply chain.

Notably, the EU’s regulation requires law enforcement to prove that forced labor exists in an importer’s supply chain. This differs from the United States’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”), under which all goods coming from the Xinjiang region of China are presumed to be made with forced labor. However, the E.U.’s regulation proposes creating a database of high-risk areas and products. Once a good is placed on the high-risk database, there is a presumption that it is made with forced labor. So, Importers would have to prove that those goods were not made with forced labor to be allowed in the European market even if there was not a finding of forced labor in their supply chain. This provision makes the EU’s regulation more dynamic than UFLPA and potentially more expansive. However, it begs the question of whether it will be effective in practice or overly burdensome for law enforcement.

If you have questions about supply chain risk or forced labor regulations do not hesitate to contact an attorney at Barnes Richardson, & Colburn LLP.