BMW car And Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are the latest manufacturers to land in hot water after America Senate The Finance Committee found that both continued to use parts manufactured by the same company. Chinese people The supplier was flagged for forced labor. BMW car shipped at least 8,000 Minis containing the part after the company was notified of the banned products, JLR imported the part and The car is manufactured by Volkswagen AG with parts from prohibited suppliers.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act takes effect in June 2023 and ban products from Xinjiang, a region in western China, into the United States unless importers can demonstrate that the products were produced without the use of forced labor.
Volkswagen AG was the first OEM to fall into this situation earlier this year when a batch of their new cars were detained at the port because a small part was produced using forced labor. Volkswagen replaced parts made by slave labor at US ports, but BMW and JLR continued to import the parts until April 2024 despite being notified in January. Based on New York Times,
In a statement, [Ron Wyden, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee] says that “automakers are burying their heads in the sand and then swearing they cannot find any forced labor in their supply chains.”
“Somehow, Treasury Board watchdogs discovered what multi-billion dollar companies apparently cannot: imported BMW cars, imported Jaguar Land Rover parts and VW AG’s production cars all include parts made by a supplier banned from using Uyghur forced labor,” he said. more. “Automakers’ self-regulation is clearly ineffective.”
The part in question is called the LAN transformer and is part of the system that allows the vehicle’s electronic components to communicate with each other. Automakers did not buy components directly from Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group, also known as JWD, the Chinese manufacturer said to have used forced labor. Rather, it was part of the electronics they purchased from Lear Corp., a supplier of automotive electrical systems.
Lear confirmed it purchased the parts from another supplier and did not have a direct relationship with JWD. Lear notified all three automakers about human rights concerns in January 2024. Volkswagen voluntarily disclose this development to U.S. customs and replace that part at U.S. ports. BMW continued to import the part on thousands of Minis even after being informed of labor concerns, until the commission repeatedly questioned the issue. JLR claims the company’s North American branch was unaware of the Lear revelation and continued to import parts for use as replacement parts for older vehicles until it learned the parts were on the list. forced labor.
All three companies issued statements expressing opposition human rights violations, and as of now, it appears that these three OEMs have stopped using the components in question. The United States is increasing government enforcement against imports of goods that use components produced with slave labor. Last week, 26 Chinese textile companies were added to the list of goods produced with forced labor. A supply chain expert told New York Times that approximately one million companies worldwide could be affected by enforcement of the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Regardless of how much work these companies do in identifying components produced with forced labor, it is a decision that can improve the lives of countless workers in China. If OEMs stop buying parts from these unethical companies, it could encourage companies to change their ways to regain business.
