The United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party released a report June 22 connecting retail giants Temu and Shein to “a disproportionate number” of import violations according to CNBC.
In the report, entitled “Fast Fashion and the Uyghur Genocide: Interim Findings,” the House Select Committee said that Temu shipments coming into the United States regularly contained products that were made using forced labor, violating the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Additionally, both Temu and Shein utilized a special legal exemption to “avoid import duties and minimize the likelihood that the packages will be screened for UFLPA compliance.”
In response to the House Select Committee’s inquiry, Temu acknowledged that it does not currently have a policy in place prohibiting the sale of goods from Xinjiang, the part of China where the ongoing genocide against Uyghurs is taking place.
“Our efforts to scrutinize the PRC supply chains, UFLPA compliance programs and relevant business practices of Nike, Adidas, Shein and Temu are still underway,” the report concluded. “These initial and interim findings… raise serious concerns about the continued presence of products made with forced labor contaminating American imports. American consumers should know that there is an extremely high risk that Temu’s supply chains are contaminated with forced labor. And, all companies operating in the United States have an obligation to clean up their supply chain and ensure that they are not contributing to the CCP’s genocide of the Uyghur people by facilitating the sale of goods made with forced labor.”
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was passed in the United States on December 23, 2021 to ensure that goods made using forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China do not enter the U.S. market.
