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.

  • FinishingDutch@lemmy.worldEnglish
    26·
    9 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.deEnglish
      18·
      9 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.comEnglish
      6·
      9 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.socialEnglish
        51·
        9 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.