Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
Despite attempts by lobbyists to weaken aspects of the bill, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in December 2021 and comes into force on June 16, 2022.
This act makes it U.S. policy to assume that all goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labour, blocking imports unless there is “clear and convincing evidence” that the goods have not been made with forced labour.
It also makes it a requirement for firms to disclose their dealings with Xinjiang and mandates the compilation of a list of Chinese companies that have relied on forced labour.
Critics call the law a ‘loophole’ that allows goods made with slavery to be sold to Americans.
The companies produce magnesium and copper for export, and are accused of profiting from the slave labor of Uyghurs trapped in what Beijing calls “poverty alleviation” programs.
The head of the US Senate Finance Committee has expanded an investigation of BMW after the car maker was found to have imported vehicles to America that contained banned Chinese parts.
This article analyzes the impact of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act a year since it was signed into law, and next steps for strengthening US sanctions against goods linked to forced labour in Xinjiang.
In a new report, the House Select Committee on China recommended removing a loophole allowing apparel websites to sell clothes in the United States made by Uyghur forced labour.
The acting head of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said it has already blocked nearly $500 million worth of imports this year because it was made “wholly or in part” by Uyghur forced labor.
This portal provides statistics on shipments subjected to reviews or enforcement actions under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which prohibits the import of any goods sourced or produced wholly or in part in Xinjiang.
Concerned Vietnam-based exporters are seeking to ensure they comply with a U.S. ban on imported products using raw materials from China's Xinjiang.
A new report ties auto manufacturing to Xinjiang’s genocide. Will consumers—and Western countries—care?
Join for a webinar where Steptoe lawyers from the US and EU will be discussing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the recently-issued EU proposal for a forced labor instrument, and their potential impacts.
A new US law that aims to weed out Chinese goods made with forced labor is catching some companies by surprise, triggering a swath of industries to untangle the roots of their hazy supply chains.
U.S. allies appear committed to following Washington's lead banning forced labor goods from China's Xinjiang region, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, warning companies they could not maintain "deliberate ignorance" about their supply chains.
Tough new US regulations on the import of goods from the Xinjiang region of China have come into effect under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
The United States government should vigorously enforce a new law that aims to prevent imports linked to forced labor by Uyghurs and other persecuted groups in China, Human Rights Watch said today.
This is the first of five installments in a story documenting the creation and passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the most important component of which goes into effect Tuesday. The story is based on more than 21 hours of interviews with more than two dozen people involved, including lawmakers, staff, and human rights advocates.
This new report charts concerning new trends in Xinjiang forced labor as the region now mandates "every able-bodied person to achieve stable employment," and keeps transferred Uyghurs in their place through an unemployment monitoring/surveillance system.
A big change is coming for companies and brands that source anything from China. Within a few weeks, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) will come into effect. The law is a direct response to the widespread, well-documented reports of crimes against humanity in the Uyghur regions — and the fact that the reactions from most global brands to the issue have been, to put it lightly, disappointing.
From June 16, 2022, any company wishing to import goods to the United States from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will have to demonstrate with “clear and convincing evidence” that the imports do not include forced labour in its supply chain. The new piece of legislation will last 8 years or until the President determines the Xinjiang human rights issues resolved.
President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a bill to curb forced labor in China that U.S. business groups and trade experts warn will inflict unnecessary pain on U.S. firms and punish legitimately employed Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region. Designed to insulate U.S. companies and consumers from complicity in forced labor practices in Xinjiang, industry groups and trade lawyers say the law's strict compliance standards coupled with problematic enforcement will harm US business interests and Uyghur Muslims.
President Biden on Thursday signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a bipartisan bill that bans imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless the importer can prove they were not made with forced labor.
The US Congress has passed a bill that requires companies to prove that goods imported from China's Xinjiang region were not produced with forced labour. The US has accused China of genocide in its repression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority there - a charge that China has repeatedly rejected. The bill had been criticised by major companies that do business in the area, including Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple.
A coalition of groups calling for an end to the repression of Uyghurs in China is demanding a number of prominent companies come clean about their lobbying and other actions to alter or weaken a proposed bill targeting imports made with Uyghur forced labor. Among the companies it has asked to publicly disclose their activities are Apple, Nike, Walmart, Adidas, Gap, and several others.
Apple wants to water down key provisions of the bill, which would hold U.S. companies accountable for using Uyghur forced labor, according to two congressional staffers.
This analysis from Sean Roberts offers important insight into the content of the bill, the geopolitical context in which it was enacted and its potential impacts on China and the international community.
This terrain assessment describes how Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang were targeted by digital and biometric surveillance technologies of the “re-education” system. Its main conclusion is that the world is witnessing the birth of a new form of technology-enabled systems of social and behavioral control. This rise in authoritarian statecraft coincides with breakthroughs in face surveillance, voice recognition, automated data recovery tools and algorithmic assessments of social media histories in China’s private and public technology industry.