Western states accuse the People’s Republic of exploiting the Muslim Uighur minority.
The member states and the EU Commission should therefore initiate investigations if they suspect forced labor in the supply chain of a product. If the suspicion is confirmed, goods should be confiscated at the EU borders and withdrawn from the European market.
Stricter rules should apply to regions and economic sectors in which state-organized forced labor is suspected. If a product comes from such a region, the so-called burden of proof should be reversed. Companies would then have to prove that there is no forced labor in their supply chain. This might include the Chinese Uighur province of Xinjiang.
Reversal of the burden of proof is restricted
However, the reversal of the burden of proof required by Parliament has been significantly restricted in the compromise that has now been reached due to pressure from the Member States. The Commission should first set up a database with detailed information on possible forced labor in certain regions or for certain products.
The SPÖ EU MPs Andreas Schieder and Evelyn Regner welcomed the agreement in a broadcast on Tuesday, but at the same time emphasized that for a truly comprehensive reform, the blockade of the EU supply chain law must also be ended. “The agreement that has now been reached is the first step towards finally banning products that are produced through forced labor and exploitation from the European internal market,” explained SPÖ-EU delegation leader Schieder. Exploitation should not mean a competitive advantage for companies, “European consumers also don’t want products that are produced through coercion.” Particularly problematic in this context is “the increase in state-organized forced labor, for example in the Chinese Uighur province of Xinjiang.”
Shouldn’t be produced like that at all
It is important that products made from forced labor are taken off the market, “but actually they should not be produced under these conditions in the first place,” emphasized Regner. The Council must “finally end the blockade of the already agreed EU supply chain law. The approach is undemocratic and the arguments are pretextual.” Companies are responsible for the conditions under which their products are made and must ensure that “people and the environment do not suffer from the manufacturing conditions,” said the Vice President of the EU Parliament.
A law to prevent Uyghur forced labor has been in force in the USA since 2021. Since then, manufacturers have had to prove that no Uighur forced laborers were used in their production chains. Supporters of the EU law therefore warned that without appropriate European regulation, products from Xinjiang would increasingly be imported into the EU.
