Today, June 21, 2022, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) went into effect. This legislation passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support, a rarity in this current political climate.
The UFLPA establishes a rebuttable presumption that no goods produced wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) may be imported into the US. Importers may rebut the presumption by presenting clear and convincing evidence that the goods were not produced using forced labor – a high bar. The Act forces companies to examine their supply chains, assess the risk that somewhere along the supply chain – including in the raw materials – they are implicated in forced labor, and be prepared to produce strong evidence against its presence in the production of their goods. Ultimately, we hope that the Act will compel companies to achieve full visibility of their supply chains and make rapid modifications where the risk of forced labor is identified – a gargantuan task that could see companies moving their supply chains out of broad swaths of China beyond the XUAR.
In this blog post, we first discuss the human rights abuses taking place in the Uyghur Region. We then explain why the UFLPA is such a significant law, given its far-reaching implications on US companies that knowingly or unknowingly import goods from the region. We end by urging CBP to enforce this law as strictly as possible.
Human Rights Abuses in the Uyghur Region
Around 2017, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began a massive program of surveillance, internment, and forced labor of Uyghur and other ethnic and religious minority groups in the XUAR. Administered in the name of poverty alleviation and the fight against extremism, the government campaign has now held over 1.8 million people in compulsory labor programs and re-education camps. First-hand testimonies of former detainees suggest the presence of systematic rape, torture, and sterilization within the camps.
The compulsory labor programs in the region have developed into massive industries supported by state-sponsored labor transfers, forcible movements of rural “surplus” laborers to work in other sectors and often away from home, and coercive labor placements of people who have gone through re-education camps. The forced labor in the region is characterized by restricted movement, intimidation, surveillance, little or no compensation, militarized management, and otherwise abusive working conditions.
The Implications of the UFLPA
Over the past two years, CBP has exercised its authority to prohibit the importation of goods made with forced labor in the XUAR by issuing Withhold Release Orders (WROs). In September 2020, CBP issued the first WROs related to the Uyghur Region on goods produced in a series of identified facilities in the XUAR. In December 2020, CBP then issued a WRO on cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a paramilitary organization affiliated with the Chinese government. In January 2021, CBP issued another WRO, this time on all tomatoes, cotton, and their downstream products from the XUAR, citing indicators of forced labor throughout the region. While the WROs issued on goods from the XUAR have been increasingly broad, the UFLPA is a game changer, covering all products originating from the XUAR and requiring a heightened standard of evidence to prove the absence of forced labor.
The UFLPA implicates not only those goods that clearly are produced in the XUAR, but also goods with more obscure supply chains, including goods originating in the Uyghur Region that pass through third-country intermediaries, ultimately with a “laundering” effect. For example, a Chinese yarn-and-fabric manufacturer may source raw cotton from the XUAR, export their fabric as semi-finished products to international intermediary manufacturers in destination countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia. These companies may, for example, take the fabric, produce items of clothing, and export the finished products to US companies. By implicating those companies who may not have a direct relationship with–or knowledge of–the farms and manufacturers in the XUAR, the UFLPA forces companies to fully understand their supply chains.
The UFLPA has the potential to be a powerful tool to change corporate behavior. But it will only be effective if CBP targets and detains all imports from the XUAR and imports where there is a high likelihood that goods from the XUAR were “laundered” through a third country – whether through trans-shipments or by turning raw materials into finished products for further export.
Conclusion
A region-wide presumption of forced labor – and a requirement for heightened evidence to prove otherwise – could be a key step for forcing companies to achieve full visibility of their supply chains or proactively extinguish any possibility of forced labor in the production of their goods. Without such an incentive, companies will continue to excuse their lack of real action with obscure supply chains, made possible by the use of third-country intermediaries. We urge CBP to enforce the UFLPA to the fullest extent possible. Only with this push will companies be forced to confront the presence of forced labor in their supply chains and take concrete steps to end their reliance on the XUAR.
Julia Lee is a Legal Intern at Corporate Accountability Lab.
