Negotiations on forced labour are about to start

Today the European Parliament has decided to start negotiations – trilogues – with the European Council and the Commission on the proposed ban on products made with forced labour. Since parts of the global solar PV manufacturing is severely exposed to forced labour the upcoming ban can have a substantial positive impact on the resurgence of European manufacturing in solar modules.

16^th October the European Parliament’s committees for international trade and internal marked adopted their position on the European Commission’s regulation on banning trade with products made with forced labour. The regulation will establish a framework to investigate and prevent the use of forced labour in the supply chains of companies. If the use of forced labour is proven, all import and export of the related goods would be stopped at the EU borders. Companies would also have to withdraw goods that have already reached the EU market. The European Parliament have bolstered the regulation in various aspects, including imposing a more robust burden of proof on companies selling suspected forced labour made products, better support to SMEs, demanding a robust database over risk products and areas and asking for an earlier enforcement date.

We expect the trilogues to progress swiftly so that we can have a well-functioning legislation in place soon. Forced labour has no place whatsoever in the solar PV sector or anywhere else, says Jens Holm. He continuesn “I encourage each and every individual to lobby their respective ministers to go for a prompt and favourable outcome in the negotiations with the European Parliament”.