The European Council on Nov. 19 adopted a regulation prohibiting the sale of products made with forced labor, bringing the 27-member European Union closer to implementing a long-awaited ban.
The legislative measures are now awaiting the signatures of European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Once endorsed, the regulation will be published in the EU’s official journal and will take effect three years after its entry into force, the council said in a statement.
The EU executive initially presented the regulation in September 2022 amid growing concerns in Brussels over Beijing’s use of forced labor targeting Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
The documentation, however, didn’t name any particular regions or countries, unlike the legislation passed by the United States—the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law two years ago. The U.S. act targets imports from China’s Xinjiang region, where the regime has detained more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims in a sprawling network of internment camps.
The European Council stated that its upcoming ban will apply to all products available within the EU’s single market, targeting every industry sector. Not only will goods sold within the EU’s single market be affected, but products exported from the EU must also comply with the forced labor restrictions.
Under the new regulation, the European Commission—the EU’s executive body—will create a database cataloging products and sectors that may be at risk of forced labor.
If a company’s supply chain is flagged for suspected use of forced labor outside the EU, the commission will initiate an investigation. For products manufactured within EU member states, it will be up to the respective national authorities to probe any forced labor claims.
If enforced, the ban will complement an existing due diligence law that came into force earlier this year. Known as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the rule compels EU-based large companies to examine their supply chains to ensure that they do not use forced labor or inflict environmental harm.
Several rights advocates welcomed the news from Brussels, urging the EU to implement the ban and add Xinjiang region to its forced labor risk database.
“The Commission should begin by identifying Xinjiang, Turkmenistan, and North Korea as high-risk countries or regions experiencing state-imposed forced labor in a new forced labor risk database, mandated by the legislation,” Hélène de Rengervé of Human Rights Watch said. “That will make it easier for investigators to target products tainted by forced labor and lay the ground for a systemic change.”
Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project also hailed the EU’s move, calling it a “big step forward in combatting state-imposed forced labor in the Uyghur region.”
The latest regulation comes just weeks after the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the Chinese regime’s repression of the Uyghurs. The European Parliament also welcomes the EU’s forced labor regulation and “insists on its full implementation.”
“The persecution of the Uyghurs is ever-continuing,” Catarina Vieira, a Dutch European Parliament member, said on social media platform X after the resolution was passed. “Yet, EU imports from Xinjiang are up, meaning EU consumption is enabling state sponsored modern slavery. We must strictly enforce the forced labor ban and hold the Chinese regime accountable for their actions towards the Uyghurs.”
