EU Parliament approves ban of products made with forced labour and adopts supply chain regulations

It is not often you get a double whammy of good news in one week.

Yesterday was a huge win for human rights globally with the EU Parliament giving its final approval to a new regulation prohibiting the sale, import, and export of goods made using forced labour.  Followed by today the EU Parliament voting to adopt the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) which legally requires large companies to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental abuses in their global supply chains by conducting due diligence in their global supply chains.

The combination of these two legislations will support the move from voluntary standards “as a nice to have” to human rights and environmental due diligence as business as usual within the EU. The spillover effect within other countries will be far reaching as companies outside the EU will have to demonstrate compliance. Our innovative technology solution diginexLumen can support companies to meet these requirements by identifying risk within supply chains and supporting companies to resolve issues found. 

What does this mean in practical terms?

EU national authorities and the executive Commission will be able to investigate suspicious goods, supply chains, and manufacturers. Investigations will be based on factual and verifiable information submitted by international organisations, cooperating authorities, and whistle-blowers. Where companies are found to have goods made under forced labour conditions, they will have to withdraw, donate, recycle, or destroy them. Non-compliant companies could be fined.

Next stop: formal approval by the EU Council.

Link: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20240419IPR20551/products-made-with-forced-labour-to-be-banned-from-eu-single-market

Products made with forced labour to be banned from EU single market | News | European Parliament

Parliament has given its final approval to a new regulation enabling the EU to prohibit the sale, import, and export of goods made using forced labour.

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