Lawmakers in Brussels have asked the European Commission to address claims of poor working conditions linked to BYD’s factory development in Hungary, putting the Chinese carmaker under scrutiny by the European Union (EU).
The issue, as reported by CNBC, follows a report released on 14 April by New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW).
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
CLW accused contractors at the Szeged site of requiring thousands of workers to work every day of the week, often in shifts exceeding 12 hours.
It claimed that it spoke to 50 workers and made three visits to the construction site beginning in October 2025.
According to CLW, workers – most of them from China – were only able to pause work when severe weather halted construction.
Qiang Li, founder of the group, told CNBC that managers were pushing to start vehicle production in January 2026 and “wanted to begin production of cars in January [2026], so they were rushing the project’s timeline – they weren’t letting workers leave”.
The report also alleged that employees were told to mislead labour inspectors by saying they worked only “five days per week, eight hours per day, with one hour of overtime”.
CLW said the actual schedules breached Hungary’s labour rules and resembled the International Labour Organization’s definition of forced labour.
The watchdog also named AIM Construction Hungary, a unit of Jinjiang Construction Group, as one of the contractors involved.
The same broader group had been tied to a 2024 labour controversy at a BYD facility in Brazil.
Records from Hungary’s Ministry of Justice show AIM previously operated as China Jinjiang Construction Hungary.
In February, one worker reportedly died during a crane operation.
Hungary’s National Ambulance Service told CNBC it had attended the site 12 times since 1 February, including one fatal case.
Asked about the claims, Hungary’s National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing said it “took the necessary measures within the scope of its authority to conduct examinations of the matters described in the [CLW’s] submissions”.
BYD, the Jinjiang companies and EU authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
The Szeged plant is one of five BYD locations in Hungary, where the company set up its European headquarters nearly a year ago.
The factory is expected to have capacity to build 300,000 vehicles a year when fully operational, although no timeline has been given for reaching that level.
BYD’s Dolphin Surf model is produced at the site, according to a company statement cited by CNBC, while Hungarian media reported in January that trial production had started.
Registration data cited in the report showed BYD’s new car registrations in the EU more than doubled in the first two months of the year to 29,291.
In Brazil, the fallout from BYD’s labour controversy has reached the government level.
An official gazette showed that Luiz Felipe Brandao de Mello, who led the agency responsible for enforcing labour standards, was removed from his role.
Reuters, citing two sources, said the move followed a decision to place BYD on a blacklist that limited access to loans.
Brazil’s labour ministry had added the company to the list days earlier, but a court later suspended the measure pending a final decision.
