European Union countries have adopted a bill that requires companies to guarantee that they do not use forced labor and that their products have been produced without harming the environment, writes the BBC.
17 out of 27 EU member states supported the initiative, it must now be passed by the European Parliament to become law, and MEPs are expected to support it.
According to the draft law, European companies must document that the products they import meet the standards of environmental protection and human rights, for example, do not involve child labor.
However, only companies with more than 1,000 employees and an annual turnover of €450 million or more need to provide evidence.
The approval of the draft law took place after it failed to be approved twice in February. Among the countries that objected to the original text were Germany and Italy, who feared it would hit their industries harder because of their large number of small and medium-sized businesses.
There were also fears that companies would leave the EU due to bureaucracy and legal risks.
Environmentalists and human rights activists welcomed the move to improve corporate accountability, but expressed disappointment with the bill.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), almost 70% of European companies were eliminated from new obligations due to changes in the text of the project. Critics say the law is now too vague to be effective.
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