1) European Commission: Guidelines on the application of Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 on the prohibition of forced labour products published in the OJEU

On 3 September 2026, the European Commission’s communication concerning the guidelines on the application of Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 (the “Regulation”) — the framework prohibiting the placing on the market, the making available, or the exporting from the single market of goods whose production is attributable, even in part, to forms of forced labour (the “Guidelines”) — was published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Although not legally binding, the Guidelines provide guidance for the application of the Regulation and are addressed both to national and customs authorities and to undertakings and other parties engaged in combating exploitation along international supply chains. In particular, the Guidelines clarify the scope of application of the Regulation and the conduct expected of such economic operators.

With regard to the scope of application, the Guidelines define “forced labour” by reference to the concept contained in Article 2 of the ILO Forced Labour Convention of 1930. The Guidelines then analyse the investigative process through which a lead competent authority rules on the possible decision to prohibit a product on the market, favouring a risk-based approach. It then falls to the competent authorities to enforce such decisions within the Union market. The Guidelines specify the modalities through which such decisions must be enforced and provide guidance on the method for calculating pecuniary sanctions in the event of failure to implement those decisions.

Finally, the Guidelines shift the focus to the due diligence duty of economic operators in relation to forced labour, providing non-binding guidance on possible voluntary measures for the exercise of that duty, based on international standards and principles, also taking into account relevant EU legislation.

2) Italian Supreme Court: on the right to NASpI in the event of unlawful dismissal and the option for the substitute indemnity

By judgment No. 24981/2026, published on 3 September 2026, the Labour Section of the Italian Supreme Court clarified the limits of the principle affirmed in 2025 by the United Sections (judgments Nos. 23476/2025 and 23876/2025), according to which the right to the Italian unemployment benefit (called “NASpI”) ceases only upon the de facto restoration of the employment relationship, including from an economic standpoint, and not merely as a result of the judicial decision ordering reinstatement.

The Court clarified that, where the dismissal is declared unlawful with an order for reinstatement, the right to NASpI continues until the relationship has actually been restored, the benefit being due even where the worker is merely inert in the execution of the reinstatement. The right ceases, by contrast, where the worker exercises the option for the indemnity in lieu of reinstatement (pursuant to Article 18, paragraph 3, of the Workers’ Statute), since that choice results in a state of unemployment that is no longer involuntary, as it stems from an expression of will on the part of the employee.

To access the decision, click here.