WASHINGTON — BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen bought parts made by a Chinese company sanctioned under a 2021 law for using forced labor, a Senate investigation has found, prompting lawmakers to call to stricter enforcement.
The automakers responded to the Senate report, released Monday, by saying they have taken action to bring their cars into compliance with the law.
The investigation, conducted by the Senate Finance Committee over the past two years, found that BMW imported at least 8,000 MINI vehicles into the US using parts produced by JWD after the Chinese supplier was sanctioned in December for its ties to the Chinese labor program in the United States. far western region of Xinjiang.
The Senate report said Jaguar Land Rover imported replacement parts, including components from JWD, even after the automaker was notified of the presence of the problematic product in its supply chain.
However, according to the report, Volkswagen disclosed to U.S. border authorities that a shipment of its vehicles contained parts made by JWD.
The components came from 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 bury their heads in the sand and then swear they can’t find forced labor in their supply chains,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who chairs the committee. “The self-monitoring policy of car manufacturers is clearly inadequate.”
Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement that the subcomponent mentioned in the report “was used in an earlier generation of technology and is not present in current JLR vehicles for sale.” The company also said that once it was notified that the Chinese manufacturer was on the sanctions list, it immediately halted shipments of the affected parts and that all existing inventory containing the part was “quarantined for destruction.”
BMW Group said it has “taken steps to stop imports of affected products and will implement a service action with notification to customers and dealers for affected motor vehicles.”
Both carmakers said they take the protection of human rights and the ban on forced labor seriously.
U.S. lawmakers passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2021, which bans the entry of products made with forced labor in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs, 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 objects to this characterization, saying its efforts are focused on combating terrorism.
In Xinjiang, China also runs employment programs that it says boost job skills and connect the local workforce to better-paying jobs in other parts of the country, but human rights activists say participation in those programs may be involuntary.
In the United States, lawmakers have demanded strict enforcement of the 2021 law and criticized automakers for failing to adequately scrutinize their supply chains to ensure compliance with the law.
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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed.