EU Forced Labor Regulation Advancing

Nov. 22, 2024
By: Pietro N. Bianchi

The European Council announced on November 19 that it adopted a regulation banning any product made with forced labor from the European Union. Specifically, “[e]conomic operators shall not place or make available on the [European] Union market products that are made with forced labour, nor shall they export such products.” The regulation will enter into force after the President of the European Parliament and the President of the Council sign it and the law will apply three years after it is entered into force.

This time allows member states to build the enforcement framework outlined in the regulation. We previously discussed how this regulation differs from the UFLPA in the United States, which you can read about here. Notably, European member state authorities have the investigative burden to determine whether forced labor exists. Each member state must designate one or more authorities to enforce the regulation. Each member state authority is in charge of its own investigations. However, member state authorities are to work in coordination with one another, mainly through sharing information and developing and maintaining a database of forced labor risk areas and products. Investigation determinations made by member state authorities will be “recognized and enforced by competent authorities in the other Member States regarding products with the same identification information from the same supply chain for which forced labor has been found.” In other words, if one EU country determines that forced labor exists, all other states are to enforce that determination.

Companies should not rest on the fact that the EU regulation will not apply until three years after it is entered into force. This window should be used to investigate supply chains and develop compliance procedures to prevent forced labor in their supply chain and to react to an investigation. If you have questions about supply chain risk or forced labor regulations do not hesitate to contact an attorney at Barnes Richardson, & Colburn LLP.