WASHINGTON — January 27, 2021 — The American Apparel & Footwear Association, Footwear Distributors of America, National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association, and The United States Fashion Industry Association today submitted a letter to House and Senate Leadership of the 117 Congress, reiterating zero tolerance for forced labor and urging Congress to take quick, clear, implementable, and decisive action on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The letter further urges Congress to ensure that any action is part of a broader U.S.-led global strategy to end forced labor in the XUAR and the larger campaign of oppression it fuels.
Today’s letter states that, collectively the members of the undersigned associations are:
- Continuously strengthening the measures they take to identify and eliminate forced labor from their supply chains, particularly when forced labor becomes more widespread in a specific region due to structural policies, as is the case in XUAR.
- Investigating new technologies and implementing innovative approaches to decipher where supply chains are susceptible to forced labor.
- In support of new actions that will build upon current efforts.
The letter urges Congress to take action that:
- Requires the development of a transparent, tiered, risk-based approach to enforcement of any new forced labor provisions before implementation of those provisions;
Creates a clear, transparent, and evidence-based process for implementing both current and future regulations;
- Promotes the development and implementation of cost-effective technologies and innovative approaches for traceability; and
- Establishes the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act as a federal disclosure requirement on what companies are doing to prevent forced labor and human trafficking in their supply chains.
Posted January 27, 2021
Source: The United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA)
