The European Parliament approved on Tuesday in Strasbourg (France) a new Community law that allows the European Union (EU) to ban the sale, import and export of goods produced using forced labor.
The regulation was overwhelmingly approved by the European Assembly, which is holding its last plenary meeting of the current legislature this week, with 555 votes in favor, six votes against and 45 abstentions, giving member states of the Community bloc a three-year period. .transpose it into national legislation.
Under the new rules, member state authorities and the European Commission will be able to investigate suspicious products, supply chains and manufacturers, and if they consider a product to have been made using forced labour, it will no longer be able to be sold on the market. . The public market (including online) and goods will be confiscated at EU borders.
Also, according to the new legislation, the decision to open an investigation will be based on “factual and verifiable information, which, for example, may be obtained from international organizations, cooperating bodies and informants” and “various risk factors and criteria will be taken into account.” including the prevalence of state-imposed forced labor in certain economic sectors and geographic regions.”
Under the approved regulation, producers of goods produced using forced labor will have to withdraw their products from the EU single market and donate, recycle or destroy them, and companies violating the ban will be subject to fines.
If economic operators provide competent authorities with evidence that they have eliminated forced labor from their operations or their supply chain, the products in question may be allowed to return to the EU single market.
One of the co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament on this resolution of the parliamentary committee on the internal market and consumer protection, Portuguese MEP Maria Manuel Leitão Marques from the PS, welcomed Tuesday’s approval, given that “the fact that the EU is finally passing a law banning these products is one of the greatest achievements of this mandate and a victory for progressive forces.”
“This Tuesday, 28 million people around the world find themselves in the hands of human traffickers and states who force them to work for little or no pay. Europe cannot export its assets by importing manufactured goods using forced labor,” he stressed. .