Compromise Text for Senate, House Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Expected to Pass House Quickly

Senate and House lawmakers reached an agreement on compromise text that merges versions of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act from each chamber, and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told International Trade Today on Dec. 14 that he hopes the new bill can pass the House later in the day. It is scheduled for a vote after 6 p.m. McGovern continued to say his version had been stronger than the one written by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., but said he had to consider what could get through the Senate. Rubio's bill passed the Senate under unanimous consent this summer.

"We may get out tonight" for the rest of the year, McGovern said, if the Senate passes a bill to raise the debt limit, and then the House is able to vote on the same measure. "I want this done. And then the Senate could hopefully do something similar and get it to the president's desk immediately."

The bill would add a rebuttable presumption that goods from the Xinjiang region of China -- and goods with inputs from that region -- are made with forced labor, starting 180 days after enactment. It also covers factories in China that employ transferred Uyghur or other minority workers under "poverty alleviation" or "pairing assistance."

When asked how difficult it will be for the government to identify factories that use Xinjiang inputs, McGovern said, "If we need to provide additional appropriations to do that work, we will do that."

Within 30 days after the bill becomes law, the Forced Labor Enforcement Tax Force will begin soliciting public comments, and the comment period should be at least 45 days long. Then, within 45 days of the close of the comment period, the task force will hold a public hearing, aiming to identify how better to trace goods' origin, how to improve supply chain transparency, and how to "identify third country supply chain routes for goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with [Chinese] forced labor."

The government will then develop a strategy on how to prevent the importation of these goods. It will have to list companies that use forced labor, either in Xinjiang or through these labor transfer programs. CBP will create guidance for importers on "due diligence, effective supply chain tracing and supply management measures" adequate to ensure they're not buying goods produced with Chinese forced labor. And the guidance will include information on what "type, nature and extent of evidence" the agency needs to see to believe that Chinese goods were not produced in Xinjiang or by minority groups working in factories against their will outside that province.

Goods with Xinjiang content will still be assumed to be made with forced labor, even if importers follow the due diligence guidance, and will not be admitted unless there is "clear and convincing evidence" they were not made with forced labor. Apparel lobbyists had preferred the Senate version, because of the longer timeline for implementation and because it provided guidance on what evidence could get goods freed when they were detained by a withhold release order (see 2103190052). While the guidance will only cover Chinese forced labor allegations, it still might be useful to companies caught in a forced labor dragnet.

The law requires that CBP make public every time it determines that a good with a nexus to Uyghurs or Xinjiang was not made with forced labor, identifying both the product and the evidence used to decide it was admissible.