EU Forced Labour Regulation (EUFLR)

[Updated June 11, 2026]

What. Seeks to ban from the EU market all products made with forced labor, impacting both imported and domestically produced goods.

When. Approved by the European Council on November 15, 2024, and will start to apply on 14 December 2027.

Products. Applies to all types of products at any stage of the supply chain, with effect on both the import and export of such product, as well as distance selling such as online sales.

Who. All economic operators without taking into consideration their scale, revenue, place of establishment, or legal form.

Overview

The Regulation aims at preventing both imported and domestically produced goods made with forced labor from being sold on the EU market. The law is expected to have significant implications for corporate due diligence and supply chain management practices, aligning with other existing and forthcoming EU and global measures.

The Commission will issue detailed guidelines within 18 months after the entry into force and it is not possible at this early stage to provide detailed specificity with respect to companies’ obligations. As such, the below is provided for information purposes only.

How will the regulation work?

• The Regulation aims at detecting forced labour across the entire supply chain, regardless of the production stage, and will apply to companies involved in placing, making available, or exporting products into or from the EU market.
• The Regulation will impose suspensions or refusals of product circulation within the EU market upon the identification of forced labour, with enforcement and penalties left to the Member States.
• The regulation establishes a central public platform to manage forced labour enforcement actions. Final decisions—including import bans, appeal outcomes, and case closures—will be publicly accessible, while active investigations and sensitive business information will remain confidential. Because enforcement outcomes will be visible to regulators, customers, investors, and other stakeholders, companies face increased reputational and commercial risks if supply chain issues are identified before corrective measures are implemented.
• The European Commission shall issue guidelines that will facilitate the implementation of the Regulation by businesses and by competent authorities of Member States.

Main expectations

Compliance may include (but is not limited) to the following measures:

• Due diligence should be conducted on a risk-based approach and cover both the company’s own activities, supply chains, and its business relationships.
• In-scope companies should implement tracking and monitoring programs across the value chain, conduct and strengthen risk assessments in their own operations and sourcing practices to identify and assess the actual or potential risk of forced labour.
• Companies should ensure that their policies (e.g. supplier code of conduct) and management systems address the risk of forced labour, emphasize compliance and cooperation in providing evidence, and are effectively embedded within their day-to-day business conduct and operations.
• Companies should implement effective grievance mechanisms accessible to any stakeholder in their value chain, and adopt suitable and effective measures for bringing forced labour to an end within a short period of time.

Compliance will require companies to establish robust due diligence practices across the value chain, adopt transparent policies, and ensure auditable traceability throughout their supply chains as competent authorities will rely on traceability data to assess the likelihood of violations and to conduct investigations.

A Global Trend

The EUFLR positions itself within a global trend of corporate due diligence requirements and frameworks. Some of them are directly aimed at reducing forced labour, such as the US’ Uyghur Forced Labour Protection Act (UFLPA), while others, such as Japan’s Guidelines on Business & Human Rights, carry a more general approach.