The EU forced labour risk database

Article 8 requires the Commission to establish a database of areas and products at risk of forced labour, including state-imposed forced labour. At the source review it was marked 'in development' on the Single Portal.

The portal describes what it will be: an indicative rather than exhaustive resource, built exclusively from evidence-based, independent and verifiable information produced by international organisations, public institutions and research bodies, and focused on risks documented as widespread and severe. Operators may use it voluntarily to assess their chains; authorities will use it when assessing suspected violations. Until it exists, the platform does not pretend it does. The screening card for the database reads 'in development' with the date the status was checked, and nothing is inferred from a database that has not been published. What runs instead is the rest of the screening: the ILO's eleven indicators applied to what suppliers have answered, and external signals — sanctions lists, enforcement actions, credible reporting — each with its source and retrieval date. When the database goes live it becomes a third card, linked rather than copied, and every prior screening stays on record as it ran.