Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Becomes Law - ArentFox Schiff China's Uighur crackdown expands to forced work in factories, some An official website of the United States government. Abercrombie & Fitch, Acer Adidas Alstom BAIC Motor BMW Bombardier Bosch BYD Calvin Klein Candy Carter's Cerruti 1881 Changan Automobile Cisco CRRC Electrolux Fila, Founder Group GAC Group (automobiles) Gap Geely Auto General Motors Goertek Our government should tax these company at above the money they are saving by using known slave labor. The UFLPA also appears to envision a supply chain compliance program meeting certain minimum standards. The Commerce Department will continue to take firm, decisive action tohold China and other perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable.. Zara and Uniqlo owners face investigation over profiting from alleged Are forced-labor Uyghurs making Apple and Samsung phones? Address: One Bowerman Drive Beaverton, OR 97005. These workers were . They are grouped into different categories and listed below. You may opt-out by. The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added five Chinese entities to the Entity List for accepting or utilizing forced labor in the implementation ofthePeoples Republic ofChinas campaign of repression against Muslimminority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region(XUAR). Task Force Strategy Report and Potential for Additional Parties Subject to Prohibitions 13 Fashion Brands That Still Use Sweatshops In 2023 The ECCHR said that the companies have been complicit "directly or indirectly" in the forced labour of members of the Muslim Uyghur minority in China's Xinjiang province. 6901 note, established a rebuttable presumption that any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the Peoples Republic of China or produced by an entity on a list required by clause (i), (ii), (iv) or (v) of section 2(d)(2)(B) are prohibited under section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. While some of the enforcement specifics of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act will be clarified over the next six months, it is clear that grand statements from corporations are no longer enough. Some Uighurs have allegedly been placed in these factories straight from the internment camps in Xinjiang, where experts estimate more than 1.5 million members of ethnic minorities are being held. Earlier this year, Tesla faced criticism for opening a showroom in the Xinjiang region and was also mentioned as an alleged customer of the aforementioned Lens Technology company in the TTP report from December 2020. One of the suppliers operated in Xinjiang, the region of China predominantly populated by Uyghurs and where the most egregious human rights violations have reportedly taken place. or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021. In March, Apple cut ties with another supplier over allegations it was connected to coercive government labor programs. This action targets these entities ability to access commodities, software, and technology subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and is part of a U.S. Government-wide effort to take strong action against Chinas ongoing campaign of repression against Muslim minority groups in the XUAR. The estimated figure is conservative and the actual figure is likely to be far higher., In factories far away from home, they typically live in segregated dormitories, undergo organised Mandarin and ideological training outside working hours, are subject to constant surveillance, and are forbidden from participating in religious observances, the report summary continued. Withhold Release Orders and Findings List, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, Best Practices for Applicability Reviews: Importer Responsibilities, Guidance on Executive Summaries and Sample Tables of Contents, https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). Xinjiang workers have also been placed in factories that are part of Apples supply chains, including a plant in Guangzhou visited by Apple CEO Tim Cook in December 2017. In 2022, legal developments look to focus the attention of the business community on ethics in the supply chain and introduce new due diligence and compliance challenges. Call To House Republicans On Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Middleman Investigation. The UFLPA mandates a review and strategy-development process expected to result in the identification of additional parties whose products will be presumed to derive from forced labor and banned from import. At least 570,000 Uighur Muslims are being forced to work in Chinese cotton fields that produce one-fifth of the world's supply, a new report says. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Apple supplier Lens Technology used forced Uighur laborers - The Some companies have even advertised their ability to supply Uighur workers through online bookings. Apples supply chain has previously been linked to forced labor in China. We invited Apple, Esprit, and Fila to respond; they did not. ChatGPT Swears It Can Optimize Your Inventory. To sign up for updates or to access your subscriber preferences, please enter your contact information below. Preparing for June 21, 2022 Although state media are claiming Uighurs are being compensated for their work, the ASPI researchersfound they live in segregated dormitories, are unable to go home, and they undergo Mandarin and ideological training outside working hours, similarly to Uighurs in the internment camps. These Companies Are Linked to Forced Uighur Slave Labor Primark has been involved in child labor and modern slavery scandals before. This cotton is then exported around the world. For the most up-to-date information on CBPs UFLPA implementation, please see our website at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA. They added: The tainted global supply chain that results from these practices means that it is now difficult to guarantee that products manufactured in China are free from forced labour., This is a BETA experience. The Save Uyghur Campaign would like to recognize BBC News for the release of The, Who Are the Uyghurs and Why Is China Being Accused of Genocide? BBC News, 21, Background Date of Birth: January 6th, 1987 National Identification Number: 652924198701060014 Chinese Official Name: Alimu, General contact / Media queries info@justiceforall.org, 27 E. Monroe St. #700, Chicago IL 60603, USA, , from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, reveals a vast network of companies complicit in the mass detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic people. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I was born in a re-education camp at the height of China's infamous Cultural Revolution. Thus, companies can expect that CBP will improve its detection and enforcement capabilities relative to the last two years of WRO enforcement. Thus, it may be challenging for an importer to obtain an exception. US sanctions Chinese solar firms for Uighur human rights abuses Save Uyghur Statement on the Xinjiang Police Files and The Faces from Chinas Uyghur Detention Camp, HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP DISMAYED AT IMAMS VISIT TO CHINA, FEARING IT IS BEING USED TO FURTHER PROPAGANDA ABOUT STATE OF UYGHURS, Justice For Alls Save Uyghur Campaign Calls on Assistant Secretary Noyes to Get Uyghurs Released from Thailand, Community Alert For Uyghurs: China Relentlessly Targeting You for its Surveillance Campaign. For further inquiries, please contact the UFLPA Entity List Team atFLETF.UFLPA.EntityList@hq.dhs.gov. Persons wishing to import affected products to the United States will need to supply evidence demonstrating that those products were not made with forced labor, and meet pending compliance standards. Following a public comment period, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force will describe how companies can adequately demonstrate that their imports originating from China are not made with forced labor. There are watchtowers with cameras pointed in all directions and high barbed wire fences atop the walls. Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, and other corporationsfought to weakenthe bills language, theNew York Timesreported in late November, arguing that the bill would harm the supply chains they rely on in China. It establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China, or produced by certain entities, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and that such goods, wares, articles, and merchandise are not entitled to entry to the United States. China Companies in Xinjiang Uses Forced Muslim Uyghurs Labor: Report EXCLUSIVE US electronics firm struck deal to transport and - Reuters Democrats and Republicans did something remarkable this week: They agreed on something. U.S. remote-control maker Universal Electronics Inc told Reuters it struck a deal with authorities in Xinjiang to transport hundreds of Uyghur workers to its plant in the southern Chinese city of . 1307) are not entitled to entry at any of the ports of the United States. Supply chains widely tainted by forced labor in China, witnesses say German companies accused of profiting from forced Uighur - euronews Here, they are paid at most 15 cents a day to pick cotton. Major brands try to determine if cotton in their clothes is from Uighur Interagency Convening on Equitable Economic Growth, Workforce Development - Employer Practices, Commerce Department Adds Five Chinese Entities to the Entity List for Participating in Chinas Campaign of Forced Labor Against Muslims in Xinjiang. Nov. 17, 201801:48. Some brands including Adidas, Bosch and Panasonic told ASPI they had no direct contractual relationships with the suppliers indicated in the report, but no one could rule out a link further down their supply chain. U.S. Government Sanctions Companies for Forced Labor in Xinjiang CBP guidance for XUAR WROs, and standards like the ILO Indicators of Forced Labor can provide reference points. U.S. to crack down on child labor amid massive uptick | Reuters The United Nations estimates that, since 2017, China has forcibly placed an estimated 1.5 million Uyghur and Turkic Muslims in prison camps across the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. The tech industry at large relies on suppliers in China, and The Information reports that these companies have also worked with Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook, among others. CBP Issues Region-Wide Withhold Release Order on Products Made by Slave Apple and Nike urged to cut 'China Uighur ties' - BBC News They include. Whenever we find or receive proof of forced labor, we take action.. Sign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox daily. 83 global companies and brands are directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uyghur forced laborers in these factories. The UFLPA will replace the existing case-by-case implementation of WROs on companies operating in and product categories from the XUAR with a broad U.S. import ban and rebuttable presumption of the involvement of forced or otherwise prohibited labor. Major international clothing brands like L.L. (See here.) Please note that if you do not receive a letter from CBP, this does not mean that your supply chain is free of forced labor. Yili Zhuowan Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. In any future CBP enforcement action related to such merchandise, CBP will take into consideration the fact that you have been provided this notice in determining appropriate administrative remedies. Forced Uighur Labor Could Worsen In Virus Labor Crunch - WWD (LockA locked padlock) All work must be voluntary, and workers must be free to leave work and terminate their employment or other work status with reasonable notice.. The laws rebuttable presumption means companies whose supply chains touch Xinjiangor utilize Xinjiang-exported laborwill have to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that their products are free of forced labor. This elevated standard will require the importer to not only use due diligence in evaluation of its supply chain, but also to respond completely and substantively to CBP requests for information regarding entries it may review. Companies need to implement robust preventative and transparency measures, with their compliance departmentsnot their communications departmentsleading the way. It will place new requirements on a wide range of industries that rely on labor from Xinjiang, especially apparel, automotive, technology, food & beverage, and solar companies. Are These Fashions Linked to Forced Labour? Brands Can't Confidently Companies will need to comply with the law 180 days after its December 23, 2021 enactment. The level of evidence remains to be clarified by CBP. The UFLPA now would effectively apply the presumption of forced labor to all goods made in the XUAR without the need for CBP to issue WROs. Several Apple suppliers may have used forced labor in China, according to The Information. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Issues Withhold Release Order (WRO): CBP has issued a WRO on silica-based products made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., Ltd., a company located in . 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Chinas population of Uyghurs, the countrys Muslim ethnic minority, is largely concentrated in the Xinjiang region of China. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), hereafter referred to as the Act, was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021. The programs target the countrys Muslim minority population, particularly Uyghurs living in Xinjiang. Official websites use .gov The Washington Postreported Tuesdaythat Apple supplier Lens Technology uses Uighur workers in its factories, according to documents obtained by the Tech Transparency Project. Implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Almost all global clothing brands are implicated in the use of cotton sourced from Chinese-occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang) as well. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Numerous sources, including government documents, show that transferred workers are assigned minders and have limited freedom of movement.. Companies Prepare for the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Stephan Becker, Benjamin Cote, Aaron Hutman, Moushami Joshi, Toochi Ngwangwa Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP + Follow. Working with two human rights groups, the publication identified seven companies that supplied. WASHINGTON Nike and Coca-Cola are among the major companies and business groups lobbying Congress to weaken a bill that would ban imported goods made with forced labor in China's Xinjiang. It is incumbent upon you as an importer to apply due diligence, effective supply chain tracing, and supply chain management measures to ensure that such imports are free from any goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor from the Peoples Republic of China, especially from the XUAR. China: US Law Against Uyghur Forced Labor Takes Effect | Human Rights Watch Apple spokesman Josh Rosenstock said the company has confirmed that Lens Technology has not received any labor transfers of Uighur workers from Xinjiang. Let the companies know youre using your power as the consumer to advocate for human rights by tagging them in social media and pushing them to address their complicity in Uyghur forced labor. The latest report titled Uyghurs For Sale, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, reveals a vast network of companies complicit in the mass detention of Uyghurs and other Turkic people. Coca-Cola and Nike both pushed back on the NYT report in statements to the Daily Caller, arguing that they did not lobby against the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act or source products from Xinjiang. The entities to be added to the Entity List in connection with participating in the practice of, accepting, or utilizing forced labor involving Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the XUAR are: Hoshine Silicon Industry (Shanshan) Co., Ltd. Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co., Ltd. Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. Apple, Samsung Among Tech Giants Using Coerced Uighur Labor for Check the below Frequently Asked Questions to see if your questions about UFLPA Enforcement may be answered here. They are grouped into different categories and listed below. A number of companies and brands have been linked to labor forced on Uighur Muslims by the Chinese government, according to multiple reports. Many consumers are now boycotting Primark, but the brand is still expanding. This op-ed was originally published by the New York Times on January 20, 2021. The paper also described government incentives such as tax breaks and subsidies for Chinese companies to take Uighurs. Demand Nike and other listed companies to stop sourcing their products from Uyghur forced labor. Your companys response to the Washington Post, by your spokesperson has been disappointingly inadequate. The problem is not Apples alone. abercrombie & fitch, acer, adidas, alstom, amazon, apple, asus, b ai c motor, bmw, bombardier, bosch, byd, calvin klein, candy, carter's, cerruti 1881, changan automobile, cisco, crrc, These workers were transferred from labor camps in the Xinjiang region of western China, WaPo reported. (Photo by Anna Fifield/The Washington Post via Getty Images). Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Abercrombie & Fitch, adidas, Amazon, BMW, Gap, H&M, Inditex, Marks & Spencer, Nike, North Face, Puma, PVH, Samsung and UNIQLO to respond; their responses are provided. In 2022, No Excuse For Forced Labor In Your Supply Chain Lenovo also pointed to a 2018 audit by the Reliable Business Alliance in which OFILM scored very well. CBP issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against cotton products and tomato products produced in Xinjiang based on information that reasonably indicates the use of detainee or prison . CBP has released importer guidance to assist the trade community in preparing for the implementation of the UFLPA rebuttable presumption that goes into effect on June 21, 2022. The companies that broker this Uighur labor advertise that the workers are used to working in adversity, that they will stay the length of the contract. Rebutting the Forced Labor Presumption The guidance referenced above under Section 2(d)(6) is not expected until closer to June 21, 2022, as part of the Task Force Strategy Report, and thus companies may not know for some time what are the due diligence, effective supply chain tracing, and supply chain management measures that will meet CBP standards. The TTP pinpoints five companies on Amazons supplier list (available as a CSV file in the small print below the pages supply chain map) that have been publicly denounced for being directly or indirectly connected to the forced labor of Chinas Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region. Apple found no evidence of forced labor anywhere we operate, a spokesperson told The Information. Companies will have limited time between now and June 21 to identify and manage both legal compliance and business risks. (See here.) Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The US Department of Commerce said the . "Apple has zero tolerance for forced labor," Rosenstock said. To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra: [HOT] Read Latest COVID-19 Guidance, All Aspects [SCHEDULE] Upcoming COVID-19 Webinars & Online Programs, [GUIDANCE] COVID-19 and Force Majeure Considerations, [GUIDANCE] COVID-19 and Employer Liability Issues. Importers of record will have a path to overcome that rebuttable presumption by showing that the items are not mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor and demonstrating other elements of compliance. Including the rule announced today, these actions have added 53 parties specifically implicated in human rights abuses of ethnic minorities from Xinjiang, and 15 of these which were implicated in human rights abuses related to forced labor of ethnic minorities from Xinjiang. Meta backs new tool for removing sexual images of minors posted online, Mark Zuckerberg says Meta now has a team building AI tools and personas, Whoops! 6256 - Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, DHS Press Release on UFLPA Public Comment Period, Federal Register Notice Seeking Public Comment. Byler said the Chinese government's use of forced labor in the Xinjiang region has long been established, but has stepped up since 2017, when the most recent crackdown on Uighurs began. For some products and industries, it may be easier to track sources and seek certifications of product origin. Please be aware that this is CBPs importer guidance, which provides transparency to CBPs operational approach, and not the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Forces Strategy, which will provide additional importer guidance, required by the UFLPA. That timeline will be exacerbated by the expected announcement of additional prohibited companies on June 21, and the potential delay until that day of guidance from CBP on standards to demonstrate that imports are not connected to forced labor. The ASPI found that 27 factories across nine Chinese provinces used the labor of Uyghurs forcibly transferred from Chinese-occupied East Turkestan since 2017. An investigation by the Associated Press published in June found that the Chinese government is committing demographic genocide against Uighur Muslims through forced abortions, birth control, mass detentions, and imprisonment. UFLPA Entity List | Homeland Security - DHS Here are some of the 83 brands listed in the report as being connected to those factories using forced labor. Apple, whichhas saidthat it is is committed to donating to organizations that challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration, has protested that it rigorously audits companies in its supply chain to make sure that Apples products arent derived from forced labor, saying in a statement to WaPo that Apple has zero tolerance for forced labor.. Most companies will require advance planning to assess the risks posed by the UFLPA and develop the compliance and due diligence mechanisms that will be needed to monitor supply chains and commercial partners.

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