Forced Labour Regulation: no market access for products made with forced labor

In brief

Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 prohibits placing products made with forced labor on the EU market, making them available there or exporting them from the EU (Art. 3). Unlike many other EU rules, it has no thresholds. It applies to raw materials, intermediate goods and finished products, to large groups and small businesses alike, and to goods from every country, including the EU itself. Online sales are included.

Under the definition of the International Labour Organization (ILO), forced labor means any work that is exacted under the menace of a penalty and for which the person has not offered themselves voluntarily. Typical indicators are withheld identity documents, debt bondage, withheld wages, restrictions on freedom of movement and threats.

The regulation does not create a due diligence obligation for every company. It relies on investigations by the authorities. These follow a risk-based approach and draw on tip-offs, publicly available information and a Commission database of risk areas and risk products (Art. 8). If they find forced labor, they order the products to be withdrawn from the market and donated, recycled or destroyed. The companies concerned bear the costs.

The procedure has two stages. First, the authority carries out a preliminary review and can request information from the company, for example on upstream suppliers and on the measures taken against forced labor. Only if a substantiated concern remains after that does it open a formal investigation. If the risk lies outside the EU, for example on a farm in South America, the Commission leads the investigation. The company can comment and submit evidence at every stage. Good documentation can end a case at the first stage, before a formal investigation begins.

Who it affects in South America

The obligation falls on the economic operator that places the product on the market in the EU. But because the goods themselves are banned, every exporter is indirectly affected. The EU buyer carries the risk of an entire shipment being recalled or stopped at the border, and it wants to rule that out in advance.

Buyers will look especially closely at sectors where cases have been documented, past or present:

• Cattle ranching and charcoal, for example in remote regions of Brazil.
• Harvest work in coffee, sugarcane, fruit and other crops that rely on many seasonal workers.
• Mining, including small-scale and informal mines.
• Textiles and apparel involving home-based work and subcontractors.
• Fishing and fish processing.

That does not mean every business in these sectors is under suspicion. It means buyers will ask for more evidence the longer and less transparent the chain is. A coffee exporter from Minas Gerais that buys from many small farms has to be able to explain how it checks working conditions at those farms.

The region has its own instruments that buyers know about. In Brazil, the Ministry of Labor publishes a list of employers found to have used labor analogous to slavery, known as the “Lista Suja”. EU buyers are increasingly checking whether suppliers or their upstream suppliers appear on it.

Deadlines

There is a little over a year left until December 2027. That sounds like a long time, but it is tight for building traceability back to the raw material. Many buyers will adjust their supply contracts during 2027 so that goods they sell after the deadline are already documented. Goods produced and put into storage today may still be on the market after December 14, 2027, and will then fall under the ban.

What EU customers actually ask for

• Transparency about the supply chain back to the raw material: names, locations and roles of upstream suppliers.
• Social audits under recognized standards such as SMETA, amfori BSCI or SA8000.
• Employment contracts, payroll records and working time records, including for seasonal workers and subcontractors' employees.
• Proof that neither you nor your upstream suppliers appear on national blacklists.
• A policy against forced labor, signed and communicated throughout the company.
• A grievance channel that workers can use without fear.
• Rules for labor recruiters, in particular a ban on recruitment fees paid by the workers themselves.

Also expect new contract clauses: a warranty that there is no forced labor in the supply chain, audit rights for the buyer that extend to your upstream suppliers, liability for recall costs and the right to reject shipments. Before you sign, check whether you can actually give these assurances for your own chain.

Much of this evidence matches what buyers ask for under the CSDDD or national supply chain laws. Agricultural exporters already know traceability down to the plot from the EUDR.

First steps

1. Map your supply chain, at least to the first processing stage, and for agricultural and mining products back to the producer.
2. Mark the points with higher risk: seasonal work, subcontractors, labor recruiters, remote sites.
3. Check your upstream suppliers against national lists such as the Lista Suja.
4. Carry out a social audit or have one carried out, starting with the high-risk points.
5. Set up a confidential grievance channel that your subcontractors' workers can also use.
6. Read the Commission's guidelines on the Single Portal and compare your practices with them.

Document every step with a date. If an authority asks questions, the only thing that counts is what you can back up with records. Keep audit reports, corrective action plans and evidence of their implementation for at least as long as your goods are sold in the EU. A GRC tool such as Sightadel can hold this evidence per supplier, track corrective actions as tasks and keep the supplier assessment current.

The free EU Readiness Check gives you an overview of all EU requirements.

How it relates to certifications

The regulation does not accept any certificate as a free pass. Social audits and sustainability certifications are still strong evidence for your buyers. In agriculture, Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade or Bonsucro also cover working conditions. A management system under ISO 9001 takes care of documentation, and ISO 45001 of occupational health and safety. Food exporters can often combine food safety audits with social audits to save on audit days. Environmental management under ISO 14001 is often audited in the same package.

The EU-Mercosur Agreement commits the parties to the ILO core labor standards, which include the prohibition of forced labor. The Forced Labour Regulation applies independently of that, to every single product.

FAQ