China in our sights

EU wants ban on products made by forced labor

(Bild: EKKAPON - stock.adobe.com)

The EU wants to ban products manufactured using forced labor in the EU. Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed on a law on Tuesday night, according to which such products are to be withdrawn from circulation at EU borders.

The member states and the EU Commission are to initiate investigations if they suspect forced labor in the supply chain of a product. If the suspicion is confirmed, goods are to be confiscated at EU borders and withdrawn from the European market. For regions in which state-organized forced labour is suspected - China in particular is repeatedly mentioned here - the burden of proof is to be reversed: Affected companies would then have to prove that there is no forced labor in their supply chain. This could include the Chinese Uyghur province of Xinjiang, for example.

A detention camp in the Chinese province of Xinjiang

(Bild: AP)

SPÖ: Exploitation must not be a competitive advantage
SPÖ MEPs Andreas Schieder and Evelyn Regner welcomed the agreement in a press release on Tuesday, but at the same time emphasized that the blockade of the EU supply chain law must also be ended for a truly comprehensive reform. "The agreement that has now been reached is the first step towards finally banning products manufactured using forced labor and exploitation from the European internal market," explained SPÖ EU Delegation Leader Schieder. Exploitation should not give companies a competitive advantage.

Similar US law in force since 2021
A law to prevent the forced labor of Uyghurs has been in force in the USA since 2021. Since then, manufacturers have had to prove that no Uyghur forced laborers were used in their production chains. Supporters of the EU law therefore warned that without a corresponding European regulation, products from Xinjiang would increasingly be imported into the EU.