15 Feb It’s Time to get Tough on China: Modern Slavery

China is a global superpower that has struck controversy on the global playing field. Many countries in “The West” have been working hard to determine how they should structure foreign policy to fight the modern slavery of the Ulyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China.

The UK has been working along with global organizations to find ways to handle China. As we know the UN can take a long time to come to decisions and even longer to implement them effectively so in the meantime the UK is exploring more ways to make corporations more responsible as a way of boycott warfare. The Government is looking at tightening measures around supply chain, meaning compliance becomes all the more important. Parliament is working on extending transparency through required due diligence, an extension to the Modern Slavery Act, and fines imposed within the MSA; all whilst beginning a review of the export protocol.

Measures parliament has discussed:

• Higher standards of supply chain monitoring from downstream companies;
• Solicit use of the Foreign Prison-Made Goods Act (1897);
• Eliminating the burden of proof in regard to goods sourced from China;
• Sanctions on companies with XUAR ties;
• Making it easier to bring Class Action lawsuits in regard to Chinese goods.

To what extent these will/if be implemented is unknown, however one thing is certain; UK companies will need to adapt as these measures are passed.

Assured compliance in regard to these regulations is not only good for the books, but also humanitarian.