(47)The lead competent authorities should bear the burden of establishing whether forced labour has been used at any stage of the production, manufacture, harvest or extraction of a product placed or made available on the market or for export, including in the working or processing related to the product, on the basis of all information and evidence gathered during the investigation, including its preliminary phase. To ensure their right to due process, economic operators should have the opportunity to provide information in their defence to the competent authorities during the investigation. Where, in response to a request for information from a lead competent authority, an economic operator or a public authority refuses or fails, without a valid justification, to provide the information requested, provides incomplete or incorrect information with the objective of blocking the investigation, provides misleading information or otherwise impedes the investigation, including when a risk of forced labour imposed by state authorities is identified, the lead competent authority should be able to establish that the prohibition of products made with forced labour has been violated on the basis of any other relevant and verifiable information gathered during the preliminary phase of the investigation or during the investigation. The lead competent authority should also take those factors into account when reviewing a decision taken on that basis.