Canada Tables Legislation to Strengthen Forced Labour Import Prohibition

The Government of Canada has tabled new legislation, An Act respecting the prohibition of the importation of goods produced by forced labour, announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, designed to reinforce the existing framework preventing goods made with forced labour from entering the Canadian market. The legislation builds on an import ban implemented in July 2020 under the Customs Tariff that made it illegal to import goods produced wholly or in part by forced labour under Canada's commitments under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. If adopted, the new Act would strengthen Canada's ability to identify, intercept and prohibit goods linked to forced labour at the border while providing certainty and transparency for businesses operating in or trading with Canada.

 

The New Enforcement Framework and Its Provisions

 

The legislation provides clear processes to support enforcement including information sharing among federal partners and strong mechanisms to assess and act on evidence of forced labour, addressing a gap in the existing framework where the import ban created a legal prohibition without the enforcement infrastructure needed to systematically identify and intercept non-compliant goods. Minister Anand said Canada will not tolerate the presence of goods produced through forced labour in Canadian markets and that the legislation strengthens the commitment to human rights and fair, transparent trade by giving stronger tools to stop these goods at the border and protect the integrity of supply chains. The new measures are designed to create a level playing field for Canadian businesses that operate responsibly, addressing the competitive disadvantage that responsible companies face when competing against importers of goods produced through forced labour at lower cost.

The legislation aligns Canada with international efforts to uphold human rights around the world and eradicate forced labour from global supply chains, positioning the Canadian framework alongside similar measures being developed or already in force in the European Union through the EU Forced Labour Regulation, the United States through the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act and other jurisdictions. The combination of stronger border enforcement, federal information sharing mechanisms and clear legal processes creates a more comprehensive compliance architecture than the 2020 import ban alone, which lacked the operational tools needed to translate the legal prohibition into systematic enforcement at the border. Prime Minister Mark Carney committed to strengthening the existing import ban by introducing this legislation earlier in June.

 

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Implications for Canadian Business Supply Chain Compliance

 

The tabling of the legislation creates clear expectations for businesses importing goods into Canada regarding the due diligence standards they will need to demonstrate to avoid having shipments intercepted and prohibited at the border. Companies that have not yet developed systematic supply chain forced labour risk assessment processes will face increasing pressure to implement the supplier audit, traceability and documentation systems needed to demonstrate compliance with the strengthened import prohibition. The transparency and certainty that the legislation provides for businesses, as emphasised by the government, reflects an intent to give importers a clear framework for compliance planning rather than creating unpredictable enforcement risk.

For corporate sustainability and procurement teams, the Canadian legislation adds to a growing body of mandatory supply chain human rights due diligence requirements across major trading jurisdictions that collectively require multinational companies to develop and maintain systematic forced labour risk management programmes across their global supply chains. The alignment of Canadian border enforcement with the CUSMA framework and with international human rights standards creates a coherent regulatory environment for North American trade in which forced labour risk management is becoming a baseline expectation rather than a voluntary corporate social responsibility initiative.

 

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Outlook for Global Forced Labour Trade Regulation

 

Canada's tabling of forced labour import legislation reflects a broader global trend toward using trade policy mechanisms to enforce human rights standards in global supply chains, with governments across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific progressively tightening the legal requirements for supply chain due diligence and border enforcement. Whether the legislation will be adopted and how quickly the enforcement mechanisms will become operational will determine the practical compliance timeline for businesses trading with Canada. Sustained implementation of robust border enforcement combined with federal information sharing would position Canada as a credible participant in the global coalition of jurisdictions using trade policy to address forced labour in international supply chains.

The convergence of Canadian, US, EU and UK forced labour trade measures creates a reinforcing regulatory environment in which companies serving multiple developed country markets must implement comprehensive forced labour risk management programmes to maintain market access across their key export destinations simultaneously. This regulatory convergence is likely to accelerate the adoption of supply chain transparency technologies, third-party audit standards and industry-level traceability systems that can provide the documentary evidence needed to demonstrate compliance with border enforcement requirements across multiple jurisdictions. The next phase of global forced labour trade regulation will be defined by the quality of enforcement mechanisms and the degree of international coordination in information sharing and risk assessment rather than by the existence of legal prohibitions that are now becoming standard across major trading economies.

 

Source: Government of Canada - Global Affairs Canada