Uyghur Forced Labor Bill Passes Senate
Importers of goods that were made in Xinjiang, or contain inputs that were mined or grown in Xinjiang, would have to prove to CBP's satisfaction that the goods were not made with forced labor, starting 300 days after the signing of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act if the Senate version is the one that becomes law. The Senate bill, which passed unanimously the evening of July 14, directs the Department of Homeland Security, after consulting with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the departments of Labor and State, to solicit public comments “on how best to ensure that goods made with forced labor in the People’s Republic of China, including by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other persecuted groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, are not imported into the United States.” That public notice would have to follow within 45 days of enactment. The public would have at least 60 days to comment, and a public hearing would follow within 45 days of the end of that period.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The government is looking for advice on how to trace goods and on what technologies could help CBP accurately identify goods made in Xinjiang, as well as on a plan for how to identify all the companies using forced labor, even if they are outside of Xinjiang.
The report following the hearing would offer guidance to importers on effective due diligence to ensure that they're not importing goods tainted by forced labor from Xinjiang and “the type, nature, and extent of evidence that demonstrates that imported goods detained or seized pursuant to section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) were not made with forced labor.”
In a news release issued after the bill passed the Senate, lead sponsor Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said, “We will not turn a blind eye to the CCP’s ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses. Once this bill passes the House and is signed by the President, the United States will have more tools to prevent products made with forced labor from entering our nation’s supply chains. We cannot afford any further delay, and I call on my colleagues in the House to promptly send this bill to the President.”
Co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said, “Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang are being forced into labor, tortured, imprisoned, forcibly sterilized, and pressured to abandon their religious and cultural practices by the Chinese government. No American corporation should profit from these abuses. No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor.”
The House version also directs the administration to develop a strategy but gives it 120 days and does not require a period of public comment or a public hearing. It asks the administration to coordinate with “appropriate private sector entities” and nongovernmental organizations as it discusses the plan. The strategy should say what additional resources CBP needs to implement it, the bill also says.
It specifically says the strategy should address not just goods imported from Xinjiang directly, or from China, but also those produced in Xinjiang or with transferred workers from Xinjiang, as well as goods imported from third countries that are manufactured in part with Xinjiang goods.
It says there should be sector-specific enforcement plans for cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon.
That bill would implement the rebuttable presumption that goods made in Xinjiang are banned 120 days after passage. Goods would be allowed into the country if CBP “determines, by clear and convincing evidence, that any specific goods, wares, articles, or merchandise” from Xinjiang were not made with forced labor.
The office of its lead sponsor, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., did not return a request for comment. The office of its co-lead sponsor, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., did not respond to multiple requests for comment.