European Union · Regulation (EU) 2024/3015
EU Forced Labour Regulation: what it requires and how to prepare
Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 bans products made with forced labour from the EU market from 14 December 2027. This page explains what the Regulation does, what companies may be asked during an investigation, and how Libera can support preparation — without replacing legal advice.
What is the EU Forced Labour Regulation?
Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 prohibits products made with forced labour from being placed or made available on the EU market, and from being exported from it. It applies to products regardless of where they were made, and to companies placing products on or exporting products from the EU market. It applies from 14 December 2027.
- Applies to products at any stage of production, whatever their origin
- Competent authorities and the European Commission run risk-based investigations
- Where a violation is established, products can be withdrawn and disposed of
- It does not introduce a general audit or reporting obligation for companies
What companies may be asked for
The Regulation itself does not require companies to audit suppliers or file reports. During an investigation, however, authorities may ask a company for information on how it identifies and addresses forced labour risk in its operations and supply chain. The useful answer is a record that already exists: what was known, when, and what was done.
How to prepare before December 2027
Preparation is ordinary, risk-based due diligence done early and written down.
- Map products, suppliers, production sites and labour providers that reach the EU market
- Run a forced labour risk assessment by country, sector and recruitment model
- Give workers at higher-risk sites a confidential way to raise concerns
- Review signals with people, open cases where needed and track remediation
- Keep dated documentation you could share if asked for information
Where the risk usually sits
Forced labour concentrates in identifiable places: sectors with seasonal or subcontracted labour, countries with weak state response, workforces recruited across borders through intermediaries, and tiers below your direct supplier. Libera scores each of those dimensions explicitly and names them in the result.
- Country prevalence and government response from Walk Free GSI 2023 (static edition)
- Sector intensity informed by ILO estimates and US DOL TVPRA listings
- Recruitment intermediaries treated as a distinct, named risk factor
- Live screening against OFAC and the DHS UFLPA Entity List at the time of the check
What EUFLR software can and cannot do
Libera is a software tool that supports risk understanding and documentation: supplier and site screening, confidential worker signals shown to management only as grouped counts, human review, cases, evidence and remediation tracking, and exportable audit-supporting summaries. Use of any software is not required by the Regulation, and Libera is not endorsed by the European Union.
What Libera does not claim
Libera does not determine whether a product was made with forced labour, does not guarantee compliance, does not replace legal advice, audits or the competent authorities, and cannot prevent an investigation. Risk indicators are prompts for human review, not findings.
Source matrix
The EU Forced Labour Regulation is defined by its official text, not by this page. Libera's own boundary is described in the Libera concepts definitions.
| Claim or topic | Primary authority | What the source supports |
|---|---|---|
| Products made with forced labour are prohibited on, and from, the EU market | Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 — EUR-Lex | The prohibition, its scope regardless of origin, and its application date of 14 December 2027 |
| Implementation, guidance and database work | European Commission — Forced Labour Regulation | Commission material on implementation and forthcoming guidelines |
| Goods with documented forced-labour exposure | US DOL — List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor | Country-good pairs used as one structural risk input, not as an EU determination |
Timeline · last reviewed 5 October 2026
Key dates and a preparation path to December 2027
| When | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 13 December 2024 | Regulation enters into force | Assign an owner; read the text |
| 2025–2026 | Commission prepares guidelines and a database of forced labour risk areas and products | Map products, suppliers, sites and labour providers |
| Now to mid-2027 | Preparation period | Risk-assess, open worker access at higher-risk sites, set up review and case handling |
| 14 December 2027 | Regulation applies | Keep a dated record you could share if an authority requests information |
How Libera maps to the workflow
From a screening score to a documented human decision.
01
Screen suppliers
Every supplier, site and labour provider is scored on country prevalence, government response, sector intensity, workforce size and use of recruitment intermediaries, then checked against official sanctions and import-ban lists at the time of the check.
02
Open and verify worker access
A QR poster at agreed access points opens a confidential reporting page in the worker's own language. Access can be verified through announced or unannounced checks by the buyer or an independent auditor, and the result is recorded per site.
03
Receive confidential signals
Workers report without a name, phone number, account or precise location. Management does not see individual messages; only aggregate indicator counts reach the console.
04
Detect patterns
Signals are clustered by site, supplier and ILO indicator, so a repeated pattern becomes visible even when each report on its own looks minor.
05
Human review
When signals accumulate, the supplier's risk status is raised and flagged for human review. Libera never concludes that forced labour occurred — a person decides what happens next.
06
Case and remediation
A case file records the investigation timeline, evidence register, remediation actions with owners and due dates, and the documented outcome.
07
Monitor and document
Re-screening, access re-verification and an immutable activity log produce an exportable record of what was found, what was decided and what was done.
What this page is not
This page is a plain-language summary of Regulation (EU) 2024/3015, based on the published text and European Commission material. Guidance and national enforcement arrangements continue to develop. It is not legal advice; check the official sources and your counsel. Risk indicators produced by Libera do not establish that forced labour occurred in any supply chain.
This page covers one part of the workflow. For the full picture, see Libera's forced labour due-diligence platform and the Trust Center.
Libera produces risk indicators for review. It does not determine that any company or person has committed an offence, does not guarantee compliance with any law, and is not legal advice. Every escalation requires human review.
Primary sources
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See the risk before it becomes the story.
Screen suppliers, open a confidential worker channel, verify access, investigate patterns and document remediation in one workflow.