European draft regulation could ban products linked to forced labor

A draft regulation is under discussion at European level which would eventually allow Member States to ban the import of products resulting from forced labor, without explicitly targeting China. For the signatories of the motion for a resolution, “it is too little, too late”, in particular because the States “will have to support their suspicions that a product is the result of forced labour”. “We would like France and Europe to adopt a position close to that of the United States”, with a reversal of the burden of proof, declared the president of the environmental group, Guillaume Gontard.

“Almost impossible”

The motion for a resolution thus invites the European Union to revise the draft regulation to “prohibit the import of products made using forced labor and originating, even in part, from the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, unless the companies concerned can prove beyond any doubt – and bear the sole burden of proving it – that their production does not involve forced labour”.

“A way of seeing” which is not shared by LR and centrist senators, even if they support the objective of the motion for a resolution. “In the maze of modern supply chains, eliminating this doubt will be almost impossible,” argued Pascale Gruny (LR). The communist Fabien Gay for his part considered the reference to the American system “problematic”, noting that the decisions of the United States “are part of a logic of economic war”. His group had nevertheless come out in favor of the motion for a resolution, with two exceptions.

“Rising to the challenge”

In addition to the environmental group, the text was also voted on by the PS, RDPI groups with a Renaissance majority, Independents and RDSE with a radical majority. “Our objective today is for the European Union to take measures commensurate with the challenges,” declared Olivier Becht, Minister for Foreign Trade. “France will therefore be attentive to ensuring that the draft regulation is further clarified” and “we call for European discussions to be accelerated”, he added.