EU Supply Chain Law + Hongqi comes to Europe • China.Table

EU supply chain law delayed
Hongqi to launch electric luxury SUV
No decoupling in financial markets
Action plan: How China plans to cut CO2 emissions
Beijing channels coal price
AHK organizes more charter flights
Lockdown for Lanzhou
Tesla opens research center in Shanghai
Piraeus: Cosco increases stake
Xi reading to take place after all
Opinion: Only data can reveal ‘credit traps’

Dear reader,

We kick off today’s issue with some good news for all those who want to enter China. The German Chamber of Commerce AHK has organized four additional charter flights from Frankfurt to Qingdao. The first will take off in just under a month, on November 24. Further details as well as a link to the corresponding AHK website can be found in our news section. Meanwhile, an entire metropolis, Lanzhou, has been quarantined due to the ongoing Covid outbreak in China. Beijing is sticking to its zero-tolerance line.

Charlotte Wirth analyses why the planned EU supply chain law will still take a while. The law on corporate due diligence was supposed to be presented today. But it will not happen, because the Commission apparently cannot agree on key issues. One of the topics causing heated debates is the issue of forced labor. And this also affects China with the persistent allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang.

Meanwhile, China’s oldest state-owned carmaker FAW is setting out to bring an electric model of its luxury Hongqi brand – which translates to “Red Flag” and is the state vehicle of the political elite – to markets overseas. The gateway to Europe, as for other electric carmakers, is to be Norway. Frank Sieren explains what the new luxury car is all about and what quality buyers around the world can expect from it.

And there’s plenty else going on in and around China, too. So we wish you an exciting read!

Your
Christiane Kühl

Feature

EU Supply Chain Law: von der Leyen’s push without a plan

The EU Commission can’t quite get its supply chain law off the ground. The Brussels-based authority missed the October deadline for the presentation of its so-called Due Diligence Law. One reason: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to use the supply chain law to enforce a ban on imports of products from forced labor. This could also affect some Chinese imports.

By
Charlotte Wirth

For months, observers and companies have been waiting for the European Commission’s legislative proposal on the EU Supply Chain Law. The EU Commission planned to present a proposal on this on Wednesday. The paper is supposed to specifically describe what the EU supply chain law will look like in the opinion of the Brussels authorities. But the Commission is breaking the deadline. It cannot find common ground on key issues, such as the future scope of the text. There is a “Cold War” between the responsible directorates-general, the one for the internal market (DG Grow) and the one for justice (DG Just), according to sources.

Now the Commission does not want to deliver until December 8th. But at least it intends to submit its revised impact assessment to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board this week. As an independent body, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board reviews all initiatives of the EU Commission. It is already clear that the member states will be responsible for the subsequent implementation of the supply chain law. It is still open, however, which stages of supply chains the law will regulate at all, to what extent it will give victims access to the EU courts, and whether and how the individual liability of company executives will be implemented (Europe.Table reported). These are indeed important questions.

Von der Leyen wants to enforce import ban via duty of care

And now Ursula von der Leyen has added another item to the list of issues: The import ban on products made under forced labor. The head of Commission had announced such a plan in this year’s State of the European Union address (China.Table reported): “We will propose a ban on products in our market that have been made by forced labor.. Human rights are not for sale – at any price,” von der Leyen said in September. But what she didn’t say – and probably didn’t know – was how exactly she would enforce the ban. And the responsible commissioners, above all Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, were apparently not informed about her advance.

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