While the consumer tech industry “condemns the use of forced labor” and “unequivocally supports” the Biden administration’s efforts “to end this scourge around the world,” there are concerns with the timing of new requirements, the Consumer Technology Association commented in docket DHS-2022-0001. The comments were due March 10 in response to a January DHS notice on how best to comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) by preventing goods produced with forced labor in China from being imported into the U.S.
The U.S. Fashion Industry Association said it is pleased that Uzbekistan has eliminated systemic forced labor from cotton production, and noted that the Cotton Campaign, a coalition of apparel companies, nonprofit organizations and Uzbek civil society activists announced March 10 that they no longer support a global boycott of Uzbek cotton. "We encourage brands and retailers to take a fresh look at sourcing opportunities in Uzbekistan and to work with the Cotton Campaign to maintain responsible sourcing and robust due diligence in Uzbekistan," USFIA said. "We also encourage the Government of Uzbekistan to make further progress in establishing the enabling environment for responsible sourcing -- including the registration of NGOs working to monitor cotton harvests -- in order to address remaining risks to labor and human rights and to assure brands that they can source from Uzbekistan with confidence."
Sheffield Hallam University professor of human rights and contemporary slavery Laura Murphy said CBP needs much more funding to enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, because she does not think companies will cut their ties immediately to China's Xinjiang province as a result of the new law. Murphy, who was interviewed by Hudson Institute senior fellow Nury Turkel on March 9, said she has not yet found a company with production in Xinjiang that can provide clear evidence that it does not employ Uyghur workers who were coerced into taking their jobs.
CBP should take an approach to implementing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that is different than the current withhold release order regime, the American Association of Exporters and Importers said in comments to DHS. "The solution to forced labor does not lie with seizing goods at time of arrival," the trade group said. "Rather, it lies in timely information about suspected problem parties being shared at the time they are reliably identified."
CBP is working on some new guidance for the withhold release order aimed at silica-based products from Hoshine Silicon Industry in Xinjiang, China (see 2108030026), said Eric Choy, acting executive director of the Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate. Choy and other agency officials spoke on a March 4 webinar that was later posted to the Solar Energy Industries Association website. "We are working through our own administrative procedures here right now to make sure it meets the administrative requirements" to post on the agency's site, he said.
CBP has seized "four shipments of palm oil in Baltimore since February 11 due to information indicating that the palm oil was manufactured by forced labor," the agency said March 8. The shipments involved palmitic acid, which is palm oil refined into a powder, the agency said. Produced in Malaysia, the palmitic acid was "destined to a processing facility in Delaware. The combined weight of the four shipments of palmitic acid came to 544,176 pounds and had an appraised value of about $2,466,500." CBP issued a forced labor finding in January involving palm oil and palm oil products from Sime Darby Plantation in Malaysia (see 2201270036).
Multiple Amazon suppliers have ties to forced labor in China, the Tech Transparency Project said in a March 7 report. "Three Amazon suppliers are reported to have used forced labor directly: Luxshare Precision Industry, AcBel Polytech, and Lens Technology," the group said. "Another two, GoerTek and Hefei BOE Optoelectronics, are themselves supplied by factories that have been implicated in forced labor." Amazon also continues to sell third-party products that advertise the use of Xinjiang cotton despite a ban on such goods, it said.
Trina Solar successfully convinced CBP that its goods aren't subject to a withhold release order on goods made from silicon-based products made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., Ltd., a company located in China's Xinjiang province (see 2106240062), Trina said on March 4. "After the WRO issuance, Trina Solar immediately worked closely with CBP to submit the information showing its supply chain contains no materials from Hoshine and its supply chain remains free of forced labor," it said. "As a result, Trina Solar became the first solar PV module vendor to have CBP release products from WRO detention." The company said that "other suppliers may face more difficulty proving to CBP that they use ethically sourced polysilicon, resulting in delays that will only slow down the country’s transition to a carbon-free grid." CBP didn't comment.
China's lack of worker rights, weak environmental standards "and anticompetitive subsidies are the hallmarks of China’s artificial comparative advantage. It is an advantage that puts others out of business and violates any notion of fair competition," the annual trade policy agenda from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said, and the administration is looking to advance fair competition "through all available avenues," including coordinating with other countries, using existing trade agreements, or new tools, it said.
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