The United States is ready to Ban China’s Xinjiang Region Goods on 21 June 2022
A US Customs official said on Wednesday that the US is ready to apply a ban on imports from China’s Xinjiang region when a law requiring it becomes enforceable later in June, adding that an exemption would require a “very high” level of evidence.
Customs and Border Protection officials warned companies that the bar for clearing imports will be “very high,” and that the agency will not look the other way when goods have only a minimal connection to Xinjiang, in a webinar offering the most detailed look yet at the US government’s plan for implementing the law, which takes effect June 21.
In December, US President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) into law in an effort to protect the US market from products tainted by human rights violations in Xinjiang, where the US government claims China is conducting genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
The US government assumes that anything made even partially in the Chinese manufacturing hub of Xinjiang is made with forced labor and cannot be imported into the US unless companies can present “clear and convincing evidence” to the contrary, according to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The measure, which was passed by Congress in December, strengthens the United States‘ efforts to resist China’s alleged repression of Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. China has disputed charges that it is forcing minorities to labor against their will on numerous occasions.
The rule includes a “rebuttable presumption” that all items from Xinjiang, where Chinese authorities created detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim populations, are manufactured using forced labor, and prohibits their import unless proven otherwise.
China disputes human rights violations in Xinjiang, a major cotton grower that also supplies much of the world’s solar panel materials, and claims the bill “slanders” the country’s human rights situation.
Some US politicians have supported Customs and Border Protection (CBP) demands additional funding to fully administer the rule, which takes effect on June 21. “We’re all working on a very tight timeline,” Elva Muneton, CBP’s serving executive director for the UFLPA Implementation Task Force, explained.
“We expect to be ready to implement the Uyghur legislation on June 21, and we have the resources,” Muneton said during a webcast on executing the law. “So, are we ready to put this rule into action?” says the narrator. We are, indeed “She stated.
Importers will be able to re-export illegal cargo back to the nation of origin, and any exceptions to the presumption must be approved by the CBP commissioner and reported to Congress, according to Muneton.
“It’s important to understand that the level of evidence required by the Uyghur legislation would be very high,” she said.
“It will require proof, clear and convincing evidence, showing the supply chain of the imported product is free of forced labor.” In the event of fraud, CBP will be able to impose sanctions on importers, she said.
Beijing first denied the existence of any detention camps, but later admitted to establishing “vocational training facilities” in Xinjiang to combat terrorism, separatism, and religious radicalism, according to Beijing.
