On the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims
A-9-2023-0285
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality · Rapporteur: Malin Björk, Eugenia Rodríguez Palop
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Parliament's amended version of the Commission proposal to amend Directive 2011/36/EU on trafficking in human beings. It adds new forms of exploitation, criminalises the knowing use of services of trafficking victims, and strengthens sanctions, victim protection and data collection.¶¶¶ It requires Member States to set up national referral mechanisms, national anti-trafficking coordinators, national rapporteurs, national action plans and a national victims fund, and to collect and report statistics annually.¶¶¶ It lays down rules on non-prosecution of victims, access to international protection, assistance and support for victims, and special protection for children.¶¶¶
Committee position. The committees propose to amend the Commission proposal by adding new forms of exploitation, criminalising the use of services of trafficking victims, strengthening sanctions and victim protection, and requiring national referral mechanisms, coordinators, action plans and data collection.¶¶¶
Key points
- Adds forced marriage, illegal adoption, surrogacy for reproductive exploitation, exploitation of children in residential and closed-type institutions, and recruitment of children to commit criminal activities to the forms of exploitation.¶
- Requires Member States to ensure that trafficking offences committed or facilitated by information and communication technologies are covered.¶
- Sets a maximum penalty of at least 10 years of imprisonment for aggravated offences, including against particularly vulnerable victims, within a criminal organisation, endangering life, using serious violence, online sexual content, drugs or alcohol, or repeat offending.¶¶¶
- Requires fines proportionate to the gravity and duration of harm and to financial benefits, and makes sanctions on legal persons mandatory, including exclusion from public benefits, closure, exclusion from public contracts, recovery of public benefits, disqualification, judicial supervision and winding-up.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to trace, freeze, manage and confiscate proceeds and instrumentalities, and to use them as a priority for victim support, assistance and protection, including direct compensation.¶¶
- Requires Member States to ensure victims are not prosecuted or penalised for irregular entry or stay or for unlawful activities they were compelled to commit, and to discontinue proceedings, annul penalties and expunge records.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to provide assistance, support and protection to victims on a consensual and informed basis, free of charge and in a language they can understand, including accommodation, financial assistance, education, training, medical treatment and interpretation.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to establish national referral mechanisms for early detection, identification, assistance and support of victims, and to appoint a national focal point.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to ensure compliance with non-refoulement, the right to apply for international protection, and complementarity between international protection and trafficking protection procedures.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to provide child victims with individual assessment, access to education, accommodation without deprivation of liberty, a guardian for unaccompanied children, and specialised child protection services.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to criminalise the use of services of victims of sexual exploitation, and for other forms of exploitation when the user knew or could reasonably have known the person was a victim.¶¶¶
- Requires Member States to establish national anti-trafficking coordinators, independent national rapporteurs, national action plans, and to collect and transmit statistical data annually to the Commission by 1 July each year.¶¶¶
Who is affected
- Member States must transpose the directive and set up national referral mechanisms, coordinators, rapporteurs, action plans and a victims fund.¶¶¶
- Victims of trafficking gain rights to assistance, support, protection, non-prosecution, compensation and access to international protection.¶¶¶
- Legal persons can be held liable and face mandatory sanctions including fines, exclusion from public benefits and closure.¶¶¶
- Users of services of trafficking victims face criminal liability for sexual exploitation and, for other forms, when they knew or could reasonably have known.¶¶
- Children, including unaccompanied children, receive special protection, guardianship, education and child-friendly shelters.¶¶¶
Figures and deadlines
- Maximum penalty of at least 10 years of imprisonment for aggravated trafficking offences.¶
- Recovery of public benefits, aid or subsidies granted for up to 12 months preceding the offence.¶
- Member States must comply with the directive by one year after its entry into force.¶
- National Anti-Trafficking Action Plans to be adopted by two years from the date of entry into force of the directive.¶
- National Action Plans to be reviewed and updated at least every five years.
- Statistical data for the previous year to be transmitted annually to the Commission by 1 July each year.¶
- The directive enters into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal.¶
- Commission to submit a report by three years after the transposition deadline.¶
Legal basis: Article 82(2) and Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.¶¶