Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.
A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region.
Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods made using forced labor, so it must make an amendment to existing laws or enact a special law, the official said.
Photo: Reuters
The official said the Cabinet has held several cross-ministerial meetings, and the preliminary resolution is for the Ministry of the Interior to amend the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法) as the legal basis for prohibiting the importation of goods made using forced labor, while also prohibiting their exportation.
“Neither imports nor exports would be allowed, it would be two-way,” the official said.
After the law is amended and takes effect, goods made using forced labor would be identified by the Ministry of Labor, and the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance would be in charge of border control, they said.
However, the Ministry of the Interior would wait until after a research report is conducted before taking action, so it might take a while before a law is implemented, they said.
Meanwhile, as there has been a significant increase in e-commerce orders being sent from China to individual shoppers in other countries with tariff exemptions, countries including the US, South Korea and France are planning to introduce bills to eliminate tariff exemptions.
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