‘Guilty until proven innocent’: Chinese firm challenges US law on Uygur forced labour
- Ninestar, a Chinese laser printer manufacturer, has sued after it and seven of its subsidiaries were barred from exporting goods into the US
- Once added to the law’s entity list, a firm cannot send products to the US unless it proves that no forced labour was involved in its supply chains
In recent years, the US has sought to block Chinese imports deemed to contain content produced with forced labour from the country’s Xinjiang region – but at least one Chinese company is fighting back.
Ninestar, a Chinese laser printer manufacturer, sued in the US Court of International Trade in August after the company and its seven subsidiaries were blacklisted under the Uygur Forced Labor Protection Act, which was enacted by Congress in 2021 to block goods made in Xinjiang from the US.
Once a company is added to the UFLPA entity list, it cannot export any products to the US unless it proves to federal authorities that no forced labour was involved in its supply chains.
Now the legal battle between the Chinese firm and the US government is heating up in part over who shares the burden of proof and the reliability of evidence.
On Wednesday, the Justice Department asked the court to dismiss Ninestar’s case and deny its request for temporary relief, arguing that the “reasonable cause” standard used by the Forced Labour Enforcement Task Force was consistent with the UFLPA and akin to standards applied by the Commerce and Treasury departments in their restricted lists.
The rapid developments are unfolding amid a “strategic derisking” effort by the US government to cut the world’s second largest economy out of critical supply chains and restrict China’s access to cutting-edge technology by placing dozens of Chinese companies on a separate Commerce Department sanctions list.
