US | Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed by US Senate banning the import of Chinese goods

The US Senate passed Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act on July 14, 2021 to ban the import of products from China’s Xinjiang region.

Key features of the Act are:

• The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act imposes importation limits on goods produced using forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China and imposes sanctions assuming goods manufactured in Xinjiang are made with forced labor and therefore banned under the 1930 Tariff Act, unless otherwise certified by U.S. authorities.
• The Department of Homeland Security shall report to Congress a strategy for preventing the importation of goods produced in Xinjiang using forced labor. The strategy must contain certain information, including a list of entities working with the government in Xinjiang to move forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of Xinjiang.
• The U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall generally presume that goods produced by these entities are barred from importation into the United States.
• The bill also expands existing asset- and visa-blocking sanctions related to Xinjiang to cover foreign individuals and entities responsible for serious human rights abuses in connection with forced labor.
• The Department of State shall report to Congress (1) an assessment of whether human rights abuses committed by China’s government against persecuted groups in Xinjiang constitute genocide under U.S. law, and (2) a strategy to enhance international awareness of forced labor in Xinjiang and to address such forced labor.
• The bill must also pass the House of Representatives before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. It was not immediately clear when that might take place.

*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has put this story together.