weighted score 5.0 · nine dimensions
Country Risk Profile
Timor-Leste
Sourcing risk, regulatory exposure and audit intelligence for Timor-Leste-origin supply chains.
Forced & child labour
5
Tier 2 Watch List (US TIP). Coffee listed on ILAB child labour list. Domestic servitude and bonded labour risks in agriculture. Limited enforcement capacity.
Worker rights & FOA
5
All eight ILO fundamental conventions ratified. Legal framework exists but enforcement extremely limited. Labour inspectorate under-resourced.
OHS & audit transparency
5
No established social compliance audit infrastructure. OHS regulation exists in law but enforcement negligible. Bespoke assessment required.
Food & product safety
5
No national food safety authority with international accreditation. Coffee quality controlled via buyer-side and certification schemes (Fair Trade, organic).
Environmental & regulatory
4
Low industrial emissions. Deforestation concerns. EUDR-regulated coffee is the main export. Smallholder traceability for EUDR compliance is a significant challenge.
Governance & anti-corruption
5
TI CPI 2025: 44/100. Post-conflict governance improving but institutional capacity remains weak. Anti-corruption commission exists but under-resourced.
Tariff & preferential access
5
EU EBA duty-free access as LDC. No anti-dumping measures. ASEAN membership pending — once achieved would provide regional tariff preferences.
Non-tariff barriers
5
Coffee faces EUDR due diligence requirements. Smallholder fragmentation makes traceability documentation challenging. No other significant NTB exposure due to low export volumes.
Supply chain traceability
6
Smallholder coffee production across remote terrain makes full traceability difficult. No digital traceability infrastructure. Cooperative structures provide partial aggregation but multi-tier visibility is weak.
Labour & Social Risk
Labour & Social Risk
- Forced labour risk
- Timor-Leste is classified as Tier 2 Watch List in the US TIP Report. Risks include domestic servitude, bonded labour in agriculture, and trafficking of persons to neighbouring countries.
- Sectors at elevated risk
- Agriculture (coffee, rice), construction, domestic work, and fishing. Child labour persists in rural agricultural settings.
- Audit limitations
- Social compliance audit infrastructure is essentially non-existent. No established audit ecosystem. Any due diligence requires bespoke assessment arrangements.
- ILO conventions
- Timor-Leste has ratified all eight ILO fundamental conventions. However, enforcement capacity is extremely limited due to under-resourced labour inspectorate.
- ILAB status
- Coffee listed on US Department of Labor List of Goods Produced by Child Labor.
EU Regulatory Exposure
EU Regulatory Exposure
- GSP status
- Timor-Leste benefits from the EU Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme as a Least Developed Country, providing duty-free, quota-free access to the EU for all products except arms and ammunition.
- Anti-dumping & CVD
- No EU anti-dumping or countervailing duty measures currently in force against Timor-Leste. Export volumes are negligible across most product categories.
- EUDR exposure
- Coffee is the primary non-oil export and is an EUDR-regulated commodity. Due diligence statements will be required for coffee imports. Smallholder traceability presents significant challenges.
- EU Forced Labour Regulation
- Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 applies from December 2027. Coffee supply chains with child labour risk may attract investigation under Article 5.
- CBAM
- Not materially relevant. Timor-Leste does not export CBAM-covered products (steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity) to the EU in any significant volume.
Logistics & Supply Chain
Logistics & Supply Chain
- Primary export corridor
- Dili → transhipment via Singapore or Surabaya → Indian Ocean → Suez Canal → EU ports
- Key transit chokepoints
- Strait of Malacca, Suez Canal
- Main EU destination ports
- Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp (for coffee exports)
- Typical transit time
- 30–40 days to Northwest Europe including transhipment
- Scope 3 relevance
- Long-haul maritime freight with transhipment adds to carbon footprint. Limited direct shipping services mean additional handling and transit time.