EU Forced Labor Regulation: The Time to Prepare is Now

As the European Commission pointed out on its updated website on the European Union's Forced Labor Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/3015) ("FLR"), companies should begin preparing now to ensure that no products made with forced labor are sold with nexus to the European Union after December 14, 2027. The FLR imposes a ban on products made with forced labor (as defined in ILO Conventions 29 and 105) and will apply to any company selling into, within, or exporting from the EU, regardless of its size or place of business.

In order to help businesses prepare for compliance with this ban, the FLR requires the Commission to publish a database with information on forced labor risks in specific geographic areas or with respect to specific products or product groups. Further, the Commission is required to publish guidelines to help businesses comply with the FLR. Both the database and the guidelines were supposed to be made available to the public by June 14, 2026.

Even though the FLR was adopted in late 2024, the Commission has not yet been able to publish these essential resources. This unexplained omission raises the question of whether there will be any consequences for the Commission as a result. Further, given that the FLR deemed the timely availability of the database and the guidelines to businesses essential for imposing the burden of compliance with the FLR, there are questions regarding whether the applicability of the FLR should be postponed accordingly.

Whether—and if so, how—the European legislature will respond to the Commission's failure to deliver on its own obligations under an important piece of EU legislation remains to be seen. In any event, businesses should consider double-checking that none of their products sold into, within, or exported from the EU is made with forced labor.