EU Publishes Regulation Banning Products Made with Forced Labor

On Dec. 12, 2024, the European Union’s Forced Labor Regulation (FLR) was published, prohibiting the placement, sale, and export of products made with forced labor on the EU market. This is the definitive and legally binding version of the FLR.

The prohibition on products made with forced labor, as set out in the FLR, and the resulting obligations and associated checks and enforcement, will take effect on Dec. 14, 2027. Nevertheless, some provisions requiring EU member states and the European Commission to prepare the framework for the application and enforcement of the FLR are already in effect (for example, in relation to the designation of competent authorities or the creation of forced labor databases). Companies operating in the EU would be well advised to begin surveying potential risks in their supply chains and establishing their own internal compliance programs.

Once the FLR fully takes effect, it will prohibit economic operators (meaning any natural or legal person, or association thereof) from placing or making available products made using forced labor on the EU market (including distance sales). It will also prohibit them from exporting such products from the EU.

Definition of Forced Labor

The FLR’s definition of forced labor is that used in the Forced Labor Convention of the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO defines forced labor as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.” 

The FLR specifically covers forced child labor as part of this definition. The ILO has published a booklet with a detailed list of “Indicators of Forced Labor” that is designed to help government entities, law enforcement officials, labor inspectors, trade union officers, and others to identify possible forced labor situations.

For purposes of the FLR, the use of forced labor must be considered at all stages of the upstream supply chain. This includes the extraction, harvest, production, manufacture, or processing of a product, including its parts. This also includes the working or processing related to a product.

Importantly, the European Commission is required to publish guidelines on the application and enforcement of the FLR by June 14, 2026. This should be carefully monitored, as the guidelines are expected to further detail the exact obligations faced by operators and authorities from December 2027 onward and will help inform the compliance policies and programs companies must establish.

Differences from the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

The FLR is routinely compared to the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).

A key difference between both texts is that the FLR does not target a specific jurisdiction per se. Instead, it applies to all products entering its market. Additionally, the UFLPA includes a forced labor presumption for goods originating in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

By contrast, the FLR includes a risk-based approach to assess the likelihood of forced labor for any given product or economic operator. 

A more analogous framework may be Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which serves as the basis for UFLPA implementation but provides the U.S. government with a mechanism to prohibit specific imports into the country from anywhere in the world that are believed to have been made in whole or in part with forced, indentured, or prison labor.

Wolfgang A. Maschek and Thomas Delille are attorneys with Squire Patton Boggs in Brussels. Marion Seranne is an attorney with Squire Patton Boggs in Paris. Ludmilla Kasulke and D. Michael Kaye are attorneys with Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C. Christina Economides is a senior policy advisor and Guillermo Giralda Fustes is an attorney and public policy advisor with Squire Patton Boggs in Brussels. © 2025 Squire Patton Boggs. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.