A US Senate report released this week said that German automaker BMW imported at least 8,000 Mini Cooper vehicles into the US that contained electronic parts from a banned Chinese supplier.
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The supplier, Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group (JWD), was on a list of banned firms due to links with alleged Chinese forced labour.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, who wrote the report, said: “Automakers’ self-policing is clearly not doing the job. I’m calling on Customs and Border Protection to take a number of specific steps to supercharge enforcement and crack down on companies that fuel the shameful use of forced labour in China.”
The report said BMW continued to import vehicles with the banned parts until at least April this year.
It also named Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Volkswagen Group.
According to the BBC, JLR said it has now identified and is destroying any stock it holds around the world that includes the electrical component.
Mr Wyden’s report said that VW had voluntarily informed customs officials about the issue.
BMW Group said in an email to Reuters that it had “taken steps to halt the importation of affected products.”
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) law was passed in congress in 2021.
Its aim was to enforce the law to prevent the import of goods from China’s Xinjiang region, where members of the country’s Uyghur minority group are allegedly victims of forced labour.
China denies the allegations.
