William Simpson
BMW, Volkswagen and Jaguar Land Rover purchased parts made by a Chinese company sanctioned by a 2021 law for using forced laboura U.S. Senate investigation has uncovered, resulting in a call from lawmakers for stricter enforcement.
Automakers said in response to the Senate report released Monday that they have taken steps to make their cars comply with the law.
The Senate Finance Committee’s two-year investigation revealed that BMW imported into the U.S. at least 8,000 MINI vehicles containing parts produced by JWD after the Chinese supplier was sanctioned in December for its ties to China’s labor program in the region. far west of Xinjiang.
The report states that Jaguar Land Rover imported replacement parts, including components manufactured by JWD, even after the automaker was informed of the presence of the problematic product in its supply chain.
Volkswagen, however, revealed to U.S. border authorities that a shipment of its vehicles contained parts manufactured by JWD, according to the report.
The components were purchased through two contractors – California-based Bourns Inc. and Michigan-based Lear Corp. – the latter of which is a direct supplier to BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, according to the report.
“Automakers are sticking their heads in the sand and then swearing they can’t find any forced labor in their supply chains,” said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the committee. “The automakers’ self-policing is clearly not working.” Wyden called on Customs and Border Protection to “step up enforcement and crack down on companies that fuel China’s shameful use of forced labor.”
Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement that the subcomponent mentioned in the report “was used in a previous generation of technology and is not in current JLR vehicles on sale.” The company further said that as soon as it was notified that the Chinese manufacturer was on the sanctions list, it immediately stopped shipping the affected parts and all existing inventory containing the component was “quarantined for destruction.”
The BMW Group said it “has taken steps to stop the import of affected products and will conduct a service action with notification of customers and dealers for affected motor vehicles.”
Both automakers said they take protecting human rights and prohibitions against forced labor seriously.
The report points out that the US has banned the use of forced labor. US lawmakers in 2021 passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Lawbanning the entry of products manufactured with forced labor into Xinjiang, where the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group, have been persecuted for their religious and cultural beliefs.
The US government has described this persecution as an act of genocide. Beijing strongly opposes this characterization, saying its efforts are aimed at combating terrorism.
In Xinjiang, China also runs employment programs that it says increase job skills and connect the local workforce with better-paying jobs in other parts of the country, but human rights advocates say participation in these programs can be involuntary.
In the US, lawmakers demanded that the 2021 law be strictly enforced and criticized automakers for not adequately vetting their supply chains to ensure compliance with the law.
