The US Senate has unanimously passed the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) that will ban the import of products from China’s Xinjiang region into the US unless importers can provide “clear and convincing evidence” they were not made with forced labour.
The act will now head to the desk of President Joe Biden where it will be signed into law. It passed the House of Representatives earlier this week (14 December) and provides for an effective date of 180 days after the bill’s enactment, meaning the solar industry will need to begin providing evidence as to the origins of imported products from June 2022.
The final version of the Act retains the “guilty until proven innocent” rebuttable presumption clause that assumes all goods originating from the Xinjiang region are made with forced labour, and are therefore banned, unless the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner gives an exception.
Investment bank ROTH Capital Partners said that “the impact of UFLPA will likely be modest as supply chain adjustments are already underway, and traceability services are available”.
It said that the UFLPA “would effectively complement/expand the current Hoshine Withhold Release Order (WRO)”, which has banned imports into the US from Hoshine Silicon Industry and its subsidiaries. PV Tech Premium has broken down the Customs and Border Protection agency’s (CBP) guidance on the WRO.
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