Thread by @anna_cavazzini

The @europeancommission just announced it will work on a proposal for an EU ban on products made with #forcedlabour. This is a historic announcement - how did we get here? A thread 👇(1/9)

Over a decade ago, the @EUparliament called for such a ban. It never went anywhere. As the #BizHumanRights discipline continued to develop, the focus was on creating obligations for companies to conduct due diligence to guarantee #humanrights and environmental protection (2/9).

Last year, when the EP negotiated the due diligence law in INTA, I tabled an amendment calling for an import ban on products linked to severe human rights violations like forced labour.This would be complementary to the law, to block such products coming to the single market(3/9)

The other political groups supported the demand - we called for this first in the @EP_Trade Committee in October 2020 and later it became an official EP position when the report was adopted by the Plenary in March 2021. (4/9)

Between the negotiations & the adoption, we Greens continued to work on the idea. How exactly could it look like at EU level? No one had investigated this before. So, in February we published a study on it examining how it could be implemented. (5/9) annacavazzini.eu/wp-content/upl…

Shortly after, the @EU_Commission announced that it would conduct an impact assessment to see whether it would be necessary and feasible. This was particularly important in the context of EU-China trade relations. (6/9)

Just before the summer, together with @HeidiHautala and @bueti we @GreensEFA organised a webinar to discuss an EU import ban on forced labour, including an enlightening conversation about this with Commissioner @VDombrovskis. You re-can watch it here (7/9)

So today’s announcement comes after many months of discussion & a lot of thinking on our & of course the Commission’s side. I am very happy the @EU_Commission has decided to take this on. Important note: this ban would not only apply in the Chinese case, but others too! (8/9)

Now, we @GreensEFA will continue our fight to ensure that the design of this import ban is appropriate. To us this means: making sure that it is effective and that it will focus on remedying affected workers. The real work only starts now! 💚(9/9)