50 Amendments of Tiziana BEGHIN related to 2022/0269(COD)
Amendment 107 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) The eradication of forced labour is a priority for the Union. Respect for human dignity and the universality and indivisibility of human rights are firmly enshrined in Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union which prohibits slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. Article 5(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights provide that no one is to be required to perform forced or compulsory labour. Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights recognises the right for every worker to fair and just working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly interpreted Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights as requiring Member States to penalise and effectively prosecute any act maintaining a person in the situations described set out in Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights.19 _________________ 19 For instance paras. 89 and 102 in Siliadin v. France or para. 105 in Chowdury and Others v. Greece.
Amendment 111 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4 a (new)
Recital 4 a (new)
(4a) Nine Member States have not yet ratified the Protocol to the ILO Convention No. 29 on the access to appropriate and effective remedies which are necessary to safeguard and compensate workers affected by forced labour.
Amendment 112 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Through its policies and legislative initiatives the Union seeks to eradicate the use of forced labour. It is inherently linked to the promotion of decent working conditions, such as the right to organise and take collective action, social dialogue, freedom of association, collective bargaining, sustainable business conduct and social protection. The Union promotes due diligence in accordance with international guidelines and principles established by international organisations, including the ILO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (hereinafter “OECD”) and the United Nations (hereinafter “UN”), to ensure that forced labour does not find a place neither in the value chains of undertakings established in the Union. , nor in goods and services that are to be made available on the Union market or to be exported.
Amendment 120 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6 a (new)
Recital 6 a (new)
(6a) Forced labour has a distinct impacrt on vulnerable and marginalised groups such as children, women, persons with disabilities, migrants, refugees or indigenous people.
Amendment 149 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18 a (new)
Recital 18 a (new)
(18a) Any person, whether it is a natural or legal person, or any association not having legal personality, should be allowed to submit information to the competent authorities when it considers that products made with forced labour are placed and made available on the Union market and, where relevant, to be informed of the outcome of the assessment of their submission. In order to facilitate exchange of information between relevant authorities as well as submission of information, the Commission shall ensure the creation of a dedicated online platform;
Amendment 211 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) Competent authorities that establish that economic operators violated the prohibition, should without delay prohibit the placing and making available of such products on the Union market and their export from the Union, and require the economic operators that have been investigated to withdraw the relevant products already made available from the Union market and have them recycled, destroyed, rendered inoperable, or otherwise disposed of in accordance with national law consistent with Union law, including Union legislation on waste management.
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 33
Recital 33
(33) The Commission should issue guidelines in order to facilitate the implementation of the prohibition by economic operators, with a specific attention for SMEs, relevant stakeholders and competent authorities. Such guidelines should include guidance on due diligence in relation to forced labour and complementary information for the competent authorities to implement the prohibition. The guidance on due diligence in relation to forced labour should build on the Guidance on due diligence for Union businesses to address the risk of forced labour in their operations and supply chains published by the Commission and the European External Action Service in July 2021. The guidelines should be consistent with other Commission guidelines in this regard and relevant international organisations’ guidelines. The reports from international organisations, in particular the ILO, as well as other independent and verifiable sources of information should be considered for the identification of risk indicators.
Amendment 261 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 37
Recital 37
(37) Where the competent authorities conclude that a product corresponds to a decision establishing a violation of the prohibition, they should immediately inform customs authorities which should refuse its release for free circulation or export. The product should be recycled, destroyed, rendered inoperable, or otherwise disposed of in accordance with national law consistent with Union law, including legislation on waste management, which excludes re-export in case of non-Union goods.
Amendment 274 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 44
Recital 44
(44) To ensure effective enforcement of the prohibition, it is necessary to establish a network aimed at structured coordination and cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States and, where appropriate, experts from customs authorities, and the Commission. That network should also aim at streamlining the practices of the competent authorities within the Union that facilitate the implementation of joint enforcement activities by Member States, including joint investigations, facilitate capacity building activities and, where appropriate, with the authorities of third countries involved or Commission representation offices, support advertisment campaigns and foresee trainings to inform workers of their rights. That administrative support structure should allow the pooling of resources and maintain a communication and information system between Member States and the Commission, thereby helping to strengthen the enforcement of the prohibition.
Amendment 306 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) ‘due diligence in relation to forced labour’ means the efforts by economic operator to implement, throughout its supply chain, mandatory requirements, voluntary guidelines, recommendations or practices to identify, prevent, mitigate or, bring to an end or remediate the use of forced labour with respect to products that are to be made available on the Union market or to be exported;
Amendment 311 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
(ca) ‘value chain’ means activities related to the production of goods or the provision of services by a company, including the development of the product or the service and the use and disposal of the product as well as the related activities of upstream and downstream established business relationships of the company;
Amendment 316 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) ‘making available on the market’ means any supply of a raw or processed product for storage, distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge and in the case where the product is offered for sale online or through other means of distance sales, the making available on the market is deemed to take place when the offer for sale is targeted at users in the Union;
Amendment 323 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point f
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point f
(f) ‘product’ means any product that can be valued in money and is capable, as such, of forming the subject of commercial transactions, both offline and online, whether it is extracted, harvested, produced or manufactured, including working, refining or processing related to a product at any stage of its supply chain;
Amendment 331 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) ‘product made with forced labour’ means a product for which forced labour has been used in whole or in part at any stage of its extraction, harvest, production or, manufacture or storage, including working or processing related to a product at any stage of its supply chain;
Amendment 336 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point h
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point h
(h) ‘economic operator’ means any natural or legal person, including online intermediation platforms, or association of persons who is placing or making available products on the Union market or exporting products;
Amendment 351 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point n
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point n
(n) ‘substantiated concern’ means a well-founded reason, evidence or proof, based on objective and verifiable information, for the competent authorities to suspect that products were likely made with forced labour;
Amendment 366 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Article 3 – paragraph 1
Economic operators shall not place or make available on the Union market, offline or online, products that are made with forced labour, nor shall they export such products.
Amendment 375 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) submissions made by natural or legal persons or any association or relevant stakeholders not having legal personality pursuant to Article 10;
Amendment 378 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point e b (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – point e b (new)
(eb) the size and capacity of the economic operators questioned;
Amendment 383 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. In their assessment of the likelihood that economic operators violated Article 3, competent authorities shall focus on the economic operators involved in the steps of the value supply chain as close as possible to where the risk of forced labour is likely to occur and take into account the size and economicgeographical area from which the product or part of it is originated, the size, the economic and human resources of the economic operators, the quantity of products concerned, as well asnd the scale of suspected forced labour.
Amendment 390 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
3. Before initiating an investigation in accordance with Article 5(1), the competent authority shall request from the economic operators under assessment information on actions taken to identify, prevent, mitigate or, bring to an end and remediate risks of forced labour in their operations and value chains with respect to the products under assessment, including on the basis of any of the following:
Amendment 395 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – point c
(c) due diligence guidelines or recommendations of the UN, ILO, OECD or other relevant international organisations and social partners;
Amendment 403 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 4
Article 4 – paragraph 4
4. Economic operators shall respond to the request of the competent authority referred to in paragraph 3 within 1530 working days from the day they received such request. Economic operators may provide to competent authorities any other information they may deem useful for the purposes of this Article.
Amendment 411 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 4 – paragraph 5
Article 4 – paragraph 5
5. Within 3015 working days from the date of receipt of the information submitted by economic operators pursuant to paragraph 4, the competent authorities shall conclude the preliminary phase of their investigation as to whether there is a substantiated concern of violation of Article 3 on the basis of the assessment referred to in paragraph 1 and the information submitted by economic operators pursuant to paragraph 4.
Amendment 442 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 5 – paragraph 2 – point b
(b) the products as well as the geographical area from which the product or any of its part subject to the investigation;
Amendment 464 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 5 – paragraph 3 – point b
(b) take into account the size and, the economic and human resources of the economic operators, the quantity of products concerned, as well as the scale of suspected forced labour.
Amendment 466 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 4
Article 5 – paragraph 4
4. Economic operators shall submit the information within 1530 working days from the request referred to in paragraph 3 or make a. A justified request for an extension of that time limit may be granted in case the economic operator is a MSME or a SME.
Amendment 472 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 5
Article 5 – paragraph 5
Amendment 504 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 4 – point a
Article 6 – paragraph 4 – point a
(a) a prohibition to place or make the products concerned available on the Union market, offline and online, and to export them;
Amendment 510 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 4 – point b
Article 6 – paragraph 4 – point b
(b) an order for the economic operators that have been subject to the investigation to withdraw from the Union market the relevant products that have already been stored or placed or made available on the market;
Amendment 518 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 4 – point c – point i (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 4 – point c – point i (new)
(i) recycle the products concerned;
Amendment 536 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 5 – point c
Article 6 – paragraph 5 – point c
(c) that any product remaining with the economic operator concerned is recycled or disposed of in accordance with national law consistent with Union law at the expense of the economic operator.
Amendment 562 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) all relevant information and in particular the details allowing the identification of the product, to which the decision applies, including details about the manufacturer or producer and the product suppliers in different geographical areas, if applicable;
Amendment 566 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) where available and applicable, information required under customs legislation as defined in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013.
Amendment 592 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) any decision to prohibit storing, placing and making available of the products on the market and their export, as well as to order the withdrawal of the products already stored, placed or made available on the market and their disposal referred to in Article 6(4);
Amendment 618 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 10 a (new)
Article 10 a (new)
Article10a Remediation 1. The Commission, after consulting the competent authorities, shall ensure access to remedy and effective remediation to victims with ad-hoc funds or through disposition within preferential trade agreement with third countries concerned whenever violations of Article 3 occur. 2. Member States shall ensure access to remedy and effective remediation to victims whenever violations of Article 3 fall under the scope of their territory and/or jurisdiction. 3. Competent authorities should determine, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, such as trade unions and non-governmental organization, as well as with social partners and international organizations, the appropriate remediation, prevention of future reoccurrence and financial or non- financial compensation measures. 4. Competent authorities and the Network shall engage with relevant stakeholders, including persons that have been or are at risk of being subjected to forced labour and their representatives, prior to lifting any prohibition.
Amendment 620 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Article 11 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall call upon external expertise to provide an indicative, non-exhaustive, verifiable and regularly updated database of forced labour risks in specific production sites, geographic areas or with respect to specific products and services including with regard to forced labour imposed by state authorities. The database shall be based on the guidelines referred to in Article 23, points (a), (b) and (c), and relevant external sources of information from, amongst others, international organisations and third country authorities. , trade unions, relevant stakeholders, social partners, NGOs, labour and worker cooperatives and third country authorities. The customs authorities' data such as origin, places of storage and transportation points of the products entering or leaving the Union market are crucial risk indicators. The Commission shall improve the cooperation among customs authorities through direct campaigns and ongoing trainings.
Amendment 630 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 11 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. The Commission shall ensure the necessary technical support to economic operators, in particular SMEs, to facilitate the use of the database and take measures to avoid any unnecessary administrative burden in the operation of the database;
Amendment 638 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 2
Article 11 – paragraph 2
2. The Commission shall ensure that the database is made publicly available and easy accessible by the external expertise at the latest 124 months after the entry into force of this Regulation.
Amendment 644 #
3. Economic operators storing, placing or making available on the Union market or exporting products which are not mentioned in the database referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, or which come from areas that are not mentioned in that database, shall also be required to comply with Article 3. It shall be the responsibility of the economic operator concerned to demonstrate that its product or service was manufactured or provided without using forced labour and that any use of forced labour was remediated. The database shall include an archive of previous decisions and shall be regulary reviewed and, if necessary, updated.
Amendment 659 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 12 – paragraph 6
Article 12 – paragraph 6
6. Member States shall confer on their competent authorities the power to impose penalties in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Commission in Article 23 and in accordance with Article 30.
Amendment 738 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) guidance on due diligence in relation to forced labour, which shall take into account applicable Union legislation setting out due diligence requirements with respect to forced labour, guidelines and recommendations from international organisations and social actors, as well as the size and , the economic and human resources of economic operators;
Amendment 753 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point e a (new)
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point e a (new)
(ea) specific guidance for NSMEs and SMEs on how to collect and submit information and on possible measures to effectively prevent, mitigate and put to an end the use of forced labour.
Amendment 754 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point e c (new)
Article 23 – paragraph 1 – point e c (new)
(ec) guidance on minimum rules which do not hinder Member States from choosing appropriate and balanced sanctions.
Amendment 770 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 24 – paragraph 3 – point c a (new)
Article 24 – paragraph 3 – point c a (new)
(ca) monitor the recycle, destruction or the redirection of products, which were refused for release for free circulation, storage or export, to be used in the interest of the public;
Amendment 773 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 24 – paragraph 3 – point e
Article 24 – paragraph 3 – point e
(e) promote and facilitate collaboration to explore possibilities for usinguse new technologies for the enforcement of this Regulation and the traceability of products;
Amendment 777 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 24 – paragraph 3 – point f – point i (new)
Article 24 – paragraph 3 – point f – point i (new)
i) promote information campaigns with authorities of third countries involved and with the EU delegations and Missions on the premises as well as assist and support trainings for workers of those geographical areas on their rights;
Amendment 787 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 24 – paragraph 4
Article 24 – paragraph 4
4. The Commission shall support and encourage cooperation between enforcement authorities through the Network and participate inchair the meetings of the Network.
Amendment 800 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 26 – paragraph 1
Article 26 – paragraph 1
1. In order to facilitate effective implementation and enforcement of this Regulation, the Commission mayshall as appropriate cooperate, engage and exchange information with, amongst others, authorities of third countries, international organisations, civil society representatives and business organisations. International cooperation with authorities of third countries shall take place in a structured way as part of the existing dialogue structures with third countries or, if necessary, specific ones that will be created on an ad hoc basis.
Amendment 812 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 1
Article 30 – paragraph 1
1. The Member States shall lay down the ruCommission, according to the guidelines set down in Article 23, shall lay down general principles onf penalties applicablewhich Member States shall apply to non- compliance with a decision referred to in Article 6(4) and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented equally in accordance with EU and national law.