After several delays, the EU Commission plans to present the EU supply chain law at the end of the month. First details are already available: The highly debated import ban on products made by forced labor will not be included. However, the regulation will go significantly further than the German Supply Chain Act. An overview.
By Charlotte Wirth
This week, Brussels was supposed to present its approach to an EU supply chain law - but the presentation of the Commission's proposal was postponed. Meanwhile, the German supply chain law has been passed and will come into force in just over a year. How are companies in China preparing for implementation? There are still a lot of unanswered questions, including how human rights violations will be detected in the first place, says Jens Hildebrandt. The interview was conducted by Amelie Richter.
By Amelie Richter
The EU is getting serious about banning products from forced labor: In her State of the Union speech, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen complies with demands from the European Parliament and announces a ban on imports. A new chip law is also intended to make the bloc less dependent on Asia. Von der Leyen also presented the new name for the planned European counterpart to the Chinese Silk Road.
By Amelie Richter
The human rights organization ECCHR had filed criminal charges against several German textile brands and retailers with the Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe. The accusation: companies such as Hugo Boss and Lidl are said to have directly or indirectly profited from forced labor of Uyghurs in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The lawsuit is the harbinger of increasing pressure on companies doing business in China. Now the companies are reacting.
By Felix Lee
Nils Schmid is concerned: China poses a serious challenge, he says, because it is taking place in an area in which Germany and the West have hitherto considered themselves unrivaled. Angela Merkel's China policy will not get us very far, the SPD foreign policy expert warns. The behavior of the German economy is also not a credit to the country. It is high time for a new German China policy. This interview was conducted by Michael Radunski. Here can find more interviews with top representatives of German politics ahead of the 2021 federal elections.
By Michael Radunski
