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Europe Plans to Ban Goods Made With Forced Labor


The European proposal would make the national authorities of the bloc’s 27 members responsible for enforcing the ban. But critics say the failure to identify regions or industries as the biggest culprits, as well as letting individual countries determine how to implement policies, are major weaknesses.

In the United States, authorities are empowered to seize goods suspected of being the product of forced labor from Xinjiang. But in Europe, the authorities have to prove that the goods are in violation of the rules, and only then can they withdraw them from the market. The administrative and legal burden on European bodies, with varying capacities and political commitment to the cause, will most likely undermine implementation, analysts say.

“A lot will depend on the political will of national governments,” said Niclas Poitiers, a trade researcher at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a very different application in Germany than in Hungary,” he added. (Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban has forged close ties with Beijing, facilitating rampant Chinese investment in his country.)

The proposed law follows considerable pressure from civil society and European lawmakers to confront China over its human rights record. Last year, the European Parliament block a landmark trade deal between the bloc and China, citing human rights abuses and “the threat of dictatorship” from Beijing. And in June, after publication “Xinjiang Police Records” During years of detailed repression against the Uighurs, lawmakers passed a resolution calling for an outright ban on imports.

The proposed law has been criticized for not mentioning China but also because it does not help forced labor victims to get their wages back, documents back, or compensation.

“Does it help the fate of the Uyghurs? I’m afraid it will be in short supply,” Reinhard Buetikofer, a German member of the European Parliament for the Greens, told reporters on Monday. “I am not happy that forced labor by the state is not even mentioned in the text,” he added.



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