The U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Department of Labor issued an updated business advisory for U.S. businesses whose supply chains run through Xinjiang, China, where the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and associated enterprises continue to subject Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities to forced labor. This updates the original Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory issued by the U.S. government agencies on July 1, 2020.
The updated advisory includes four primary types of potential supply chain exposure to entities engaged in human rights abuses:
- Assisting or investing in the development of surveillance tools for the PRC government in Xinjiang, including tools related to genetic collection and analysis
- Sourcing labor or goods from Xinjiang, or from entities elsewhere in China connected to the use of forced labor of individuals from Xinjiang, or from entities outside of China that source inputs from Xinjiang
- Supplying U.S.-origin commodities, software, and technology to entities engaged in such surveillance and forced labor practices
- Aiding in the construction and operation of internment facilities used to detain Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups, and/or in the construction and operation of manufacturing facilities that are in close proximity to camps reportedly operated by businesses accepting subsidies from the PRC government to subject minority groups to forced labor
The advisory also describes U.S. government actions taken to date to counter the use of forced labor in Xinjiang and to prohibit the importation of goods produced in whole or in part with forced labor or convict labor.
If you have questions regarding the updated Xinjiang supply chain business advisory, please contact your Livingston account manager.