What changed

30.5.2023

ORDINARY LEGISLATIVE procedure

Mr Bernd LANGE

Follow up to the European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market

Chair

1. Rapporteur: Maria-Manuel LEITÃO-MARQUES (S&D / PT), Samira RAFAELA (Renew / NL)

Committee on International Trade

2. Reference numbers: 2022/0269 (COD) / A9-0306/2023 / P9_TA(2024)0309

BRUSSELS

3. Date of adoption of the resolution: 23 April 2024

Ms Anna CAVAZZINI

4. Legal basis: Articles 114 and 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

Chair

5. Competent Parliamentary Committee: Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Committee on International Trade (INTA)

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

6. Commission's position: accepts all amendments. The Commission presented the following statement on the financing of resources for the implementation of the Forced Labour Regulation

BRUSSELS

“The European Commission notes that the final agreement reached by the co-legislators on the Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market has evolved significantly in terms of the staff and resources required for its implementation by the Commission, compared to the legislative financial statement which accompanied the original proposal (COM(2022) 453 final of 14.09.2022), which was based on a decentralised model of implementation combined with support for implementation at EU level.

Subject: Opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market (COM(2022)0453 – C910986 – 2022/0269(COD))

The Commission recalls that, for the current MFF, the Commission is operating under the principle of stable staffing imposed by the budgetary authority, and – given the wide array of additional tasks that have been conferred upon the Union since the beginning of the MFF - it is already under severe constraints, making it difficult to cover even the existing tasks’ needs. There is no margin to finance additional officials or external staff. Therefore, any additional tasks conferred by the co-legislators upon the Commission shall be accompanied by corresponding resource reinforcements ensuring their effective implementation.

Dear Chairs,

In light of the above, the additional Commission human resources required by the final agreement endorsed by the co-legislators will not allow the Commission to respect the principle of stable staffing.

At the meeting of 31 January 2023, the Coordinators of the Committee on Legal Affairs decided to give an opinion in letter form, in accordance with Rule 56(1) of the Rules of Procedure, on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market with a focus on the competences of our Committee. On that same date, I was appointed as rapporteur for the opinion in my capacity as the Chair of the Committee.

This will require additional establishment plan posts and corresponding appropriations, to be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council during the annual budget procedure along with the related budgetary appropriations.

Suggestions:

Furthermore, the Commission will also propose, in the framework of the annual budgetary procedure, the creation of additional budget lines under the Single Market Programme, the Customs Programme or both, financed from the Programme’s available appropriations, in so far as allowed under the respective legal bases, as identified in the updated Legislative Financial Statement provided by the Commission, which will also be used to finance the Commission’s implementation of the Regulation beyond the limit of the principle of stable staffing. These new budget lines will cover the cost of contractual agents and other administrative expenditures of the Commission in implementing the Regulation, to be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council during the annual budget procedure.”

At its meeting of 30 May 2023, the Committee on Legal Affairs accordingly decided, by 18 votes in favour, no votes against and one abstention , to call on the Committee on International Trade and on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, as the committees responsible, to take into account the following when preparing their draft legislative report.

The suggestions are made with due regard given by the Committee on Legal Affairs to the following: the European Parliament resolution of 9 June 2022 on a new trade instrument to ban products made by forced labour; the European Parliament resolution of 10 March 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability, and the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (2022/0051(COD)).

1. The objectives of ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth and addressing risks related to human rights social issues, environmental degradation and climate change underpin several pieces of Union legislation, including on sustainability reporting requirements (already in force) and on corporate sustainability due diligence (legislative process underway).

2. Compliance with due diligence requirements should enable companies to identify, prevent, mitigate, remediate and minimise and bring to an end, potential or actual adverse human rights and environmental impacts associated with their value chains. This will ensure that products placed on the internal market are in compliance with international and EU environmental and human rights standards for companies falling within the scope of the future directive on corporate sustainability due diligence.

3. The prohibition of placing and making products made with forced labour available on the Union market is a fundamental measure that complements the provisions on due diligence. Therefore, the provisions regarding this prohibition should be designed to ensure consistency with the future provisions on due diligence and applied without prejudice to them.

4. With regard to the specific aspects of the Commission's proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market, the following issues should be highlighted:

 The need to avoid duplication of obligations for companies which are under the scope of application of the corporate sustainability due diligence directive;

 The need to ensure proper communication and cooperation between national authorities responsible for due diligence provisions and those responsible for prohibiting products made with forced labour, which is crucial to ensure coherence and effectiveness in enforcing both sets of provisions;

 The need to provide for more detailed rules on penalties (Article 30 of the proposal for a regulation) under the prohibition of products made with forced labour, by clearly specifying their nature and level.

Yours sincerely,

Adrián Vázquez Lázara