Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act now in effect in the U.S.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act came into force in the U.S. this week (at least in regards to actual enforcement), with Apple having failed in some of its earlier lobbying attempts around the law, reports 9to5Mac. 

The law bans US companies from importing goods manufactured in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region unless they can prove that there was no forced labor involved anywhere in the supply chain. A number of Apple suppliers have been implicated in this use of forced labor. Apple has responded by quietly severing links with suppliers believed to be involved.

Part of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act reads this way:

It is the policy of the United States—

(1) to prohibit the import of all goods, wares, articles, or merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured, wholly or in part, by forced labor from the People’s Republic of China and particularly any such goods, wares, articles, or merchandise produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China;

(2) to encourage the international community to reduce the import of any goods made with forced labor from the People’s Republic of China, particularly those goods mined, manufactured, or produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region;

(3) to coordinate with Mexico and Canada to effectively implement Article 23.6 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to prohibit the importation of goods produced in whole or in part by forced or compulsory labor, which includes goods produced in whole or in part by forced or compulsory labor in the People’s Republic of China;

(4) to actively work to prevent, publicly denounce, and end human trafficking as a horrific assault on human dignity and to restore the lives of those affected by human trafficking, a modern form of slavery;

(5) to regard the prevention of atrocities as in its national interest, including efforts to prevent torture, enforced disappearances, severe deprivation of liberty, including mass internment, arbitrary detention, and widespread and systematic use of forced labor, and persecution targeting any identifiable ethnic or religious group; and

(6) to address gross violations of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region through bilateral diplomatic channels and multilateral institutions where both the United States and the People’s Republic of China are members and with all the authorities available to the United States Government, including visa and financial sanctions, export restrictions, and import controls.