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EU Parliament, Council agree to ban products made with forced labour (www.reuters.com)
submitted 8 months ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/europe@feddit.de
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European Union Council and the European Parliament on Tuesday reached a provisional agreement to ban the entry of products made with forced labour into the European single market.

The agreement clarifies the different responsibilities the EU Commission and the member states in identifying the companies exploiting forced workers and banning their products.

The deal intends to break these companies' business model, Pierre-Yves Dermagne Belgium's Economy and Labour Minister said in a statement.

"With this regulation we want to make sure that there is no place for their products on our single market, whether they are manufactured in Europe or abroad," he said. Belgium currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The bans would be enforced on goods made outside the EU by forced labour and on products manufactured in the EU with parts made abroad by forced labour.

The provisional agreement still needs to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Council to be enforced.

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[-] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 26 points 8 months ago

That sounds nice on paper, but also difficult to enforce, no?

While the average smartphone wasn’t made by forced labour, what about the lithium in the battery? Or the cobalt?

I imagine if you traced a component of just about any product back to its raw materials, you’re bound to find either forced or vastly underpaid people.

But hey, at least they’re TRYING to do something positive.

[-] MrMakabar@feddit.de 18 points 8 months ago

It inlcudes components. So most likely companies will write it in their contracts and then will be able to sue parts providers, when they fail to not include forced labour. Thats how you break something like this.

[-] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 months ago

You'd expect at least very large corporations like Apple, Microsoft, Tesla etc to be very aware of every step in manufacturing their products.

[-] BakerBagel@midwest.social 4 points 8 months ago

Tesla cant even make a car that doesn't have the bumpers fall off in the rain. Boeing has shown us that karge companies don't care ehat is going on behind the scenes so long as they can show shareholders reduced costs.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 17 points 8 months ago

That… wasn’t a rule before…?

[-] freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Not sure but IMO the key point is nearly reached with this:

The agreement clarifies the different responsibilities the EU Commission and the member states in identifying the companies exploiting forced workers and banning their products.

The biggest problem is transparency. You ask a chocolate maker about forced child labor in their supply chain, and they simply deny it. You ask who their supplier is and they remain silent. NGOs and journalists always have an uphill battle in just working out who is in the supply chain. But highly motivated investigative journalists will go to the Ivory coast, find the child slaves, and then somehow trace it upwards from there. Hopefully this law forces disclosures of the supply chain. Once the supply chain is public it’s probably trivial from there. But note they deliberately make the supply chain a lengthy change of many hands in order to thwart detection.

The article is somewhat useless in neglecting to say anything about supply chain transparency.

[-] 0x815@feddit.de 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

... in neglecting to say anything about supply chain transparency.

Yes, this is the big issue here, and with Germany and Italy as the major drivers to prevent transparency rules at the EU level, I am moderately enthusiastic for the near future if I may say so. It's an important step in the right direction, though.

@gravitas_deficiency as it is already said, the new rules refer to forced labor in companies outside Europe such as China and other countries. The intention is that EU companies can be held accountable for human rights violations committed by their suppliers outside the EU.

[-] hoshikarakitaridia@feddit.de 4 points 8 months ago

Yeah let me say it loud and proud: fuck both parties in my home country Germany that voted against supply chain transparency.

Literally keeping the tradition of forced labor going. Absolutely disgusting.

Man sometimes I would love to swap every politician who makes such a stupid decision with a child laborer so that they make more educated decisions.

[-] Cryan24@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

So iphones? ( Foxconn suicide nets come to mind)

[-] MrMakabar@feddit.de 4 points 8 months ago

If you want a raise, you got to jump. Foxconn

[-] Senseless@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago

Painfully true slogan.

[-] B0rax@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago

Foxconn manufacturers almost every smartphone. And there are Foxconn parts in almost every PC on the planet.

[-] freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I bet Nestlé foods remain on the shelves. And if that happens, I will consider this ban merely symbolic.

Guess Hershey makes no difference because Europeans probably already reject them on the basis of quality.

[-] genfood@feddit.de 9 points 8 months ago

Sad FDP noise.

[-] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 5 points 8 months ago

Slavers: "these shackles? They are the work uniform. Nothing to see here"

[-] boredtortoise@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago

Wage slavery is forced

[-] mumblerfish@lemmy.world -3 points 8 months ago

Hey now, only to reason, not to liberals and further right.

[-] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Isn't all labor forced?

[-] Badeendje@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

With the laws on supply chains failing, companies can feighn ignorance.

[-] khaliso@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I'm curious if this wil have any impact on chocolate slavery

[-] hoshikarakitaridia@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago

As all the other ppl here said as well: I like the regulations, but enforcement is hard, and that's where it gets interesting. Let's see where this one will go.

this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
139 points (98.6% liked)

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