weighted score 6.6 · nine dimensions
Country Risk Profile
Cambodia
Sourcing risk, regulatory exposure and audit intelligence for Cambodia-origin supply chains.
Forced & child labour
8
TVPRA listings for bricks, fish, and salt. Debt bondage in brick kilns and fishing. Dark factories in garment sector operate outside audit visibility.
Worker rights & FOA
7
ITUC Global Rights Index: 5 (no guarantee of rights). Union leader Chea Vichea assassinated 2004. Independent union activity faces intimidation and legal harassment.
OHS & audit transparency
7
ILO Better Factories Cambodia covers garment sector but not bricks, fishing, or agriculture. Unregistered subcontractor factories create audit blind spots.
Food & product safety
6
Food safety regulatory framework is underdeveloped. Limited domestic testing capacity. Seafood exports face elevated EU border rejection risk.
Environmental & regulatory
5
Environmental enforcement weak. Sand dredging and deforestation are documented concerns. EUDR exposure limited but present for rubber and wood products.
Governance & anti-corruption
8
TI CPI 2024: 24/100. Hun family governance concentrates political and economic power. Corruption systemic across customs, land administration, and judiciary.
Tariff & preferential access
4
EU EBA partially suspended (August 2020) — approximately 20% of EU-bound exports lost preferences. US GSP suspended. RCEP membership provides some regional access.
Non-tariff barriers
6
Customs procedures opaque and slow. Informal payments documented. Product certification and standards infrastructure limited.
Supply chain traceability
8
Multi-tier traceability poor. Subcontracting to unregistered factories endemic in garments. Tier-2 and Tier-3 visibility severely limited.
Labour & Social Risk
Labour & Social Risk
- Forced labour risk
- TVPRA lists Cambodia for forced labour in bricks, fish, and salt. Debt bondage documented in brick kilns and fishing vessels. Dark factories — unregistered garment subcontractors operating outside audit visibility — are a persistent concern.
- Union suppression
- ITUC Global Rights Index rates Cambodia 5 (no guarantee of rights). Union leader Chea Vichea was assassinated in 2004. Independent union activity faces intimidation, legal harassment, and physical threats from employers and state actors.
- ILO conventions
- Cambodia has ratified core ILO conventions including C087 and C098, but enforcement is weak. The ILO Better Factories Cambodia programme monitors garment factories but coverage does not extend to bricks, fishing, or agriculture.
Governance & Regulatory Exposure
Governance & Regulatory Exposure
- Corruption
- Transparency International CPI 2024: 24/100 — among the lowest in Southeast Asia. Corruption is systemic across customs, land administration, and judicial processes. Hun family governance concentrates political and economic power.
- EU EBA suspension
- The European Commission partially suspended Cambodia's EBA preferences in August 2020 over serious and systematic violations of human rights (civil and political rights). Approximately 20% of Cambodia's EU-bound exports lost tariff preferences.
- EU Forced Labour Regulation
- Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 applies from December 2027. Cambodia's documented forced labour in bricks, fish, and salt — combined with weak governance — creates elevated investigation risk under Article 5.
- Supply chain traceability
- Multi-tier traceability is poor. Subcontracting to unregistered factories is endemic in garments. Buyers relying on Tier-1 audit coverage face significant blind spots in Tier-2 and Tier-3 supply chains.