US Customs issues order to stop Chinese Zijin shipments from Serbia

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency announced on Tuesday that it had issued an order to stop shipments of copper and copper products manufactured in Serbia by the Chinese company Zijin (Zijin Copper DOO) due to suspicions of the use of forced labor in production.

The decision takes effect immediately and CBP personnel at all U.S. ports of entry will stop shipments of copper products manufactured at Ziđin's factories in Serbia.

This is the second CBP order to stop shipments from a Chinese company operating in Serbia due to the use of forced labor, after one was already issued for car tires manufactured by Linglong in Zrenjanin in the north of the country.

“American manufacturers face unfair competition when foreign companies lower costs by using forced labor,” said Susan S. Thomas, executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Commerce. “By enforcing our laws against forced labor, CBP protects human rights as well as the economic security of our nation.”

The order to stop Ziđin shipments, the statement said, is the result of a CBP investigation and information that Zidin of Serbia produces copper and copper products using forced labor. It added that CBP analyzed worker statements, photographs, focus group field notes, screenshots of text messages, publicly available reports from NGOs, news reports, and academic research.

“Taken together, this evidence showed that workers in Srbija Ziđin were exposed to six International Labour Organization indicators of forced labour: abuse of vulnerability, wage withholding, intimidation and threats, restriction of movement, retention of personal documents and excessive overtime,” the statement said.

CBP states that the facts supporting these indicators show that workers are engaged in forced labor, that is, work performed involuntarily and under the threat of punishment.

Stating that trade records indicate that Zijin goods are being imported or are likely to be imported into the United States, CBP stated that importers of prohibited shipments may destroy or export their shipments, or may attempt to prove that the goods were not produced using forced labor.

China's Zijin is already facing charges of environmental pollution.

In December, the General Directorate for the Protection of Human Rights issued a ban on imports of car tires manufactured at the Chinese Linglong factory in Serbia due to allegations that they were produced using forced labor.

The GeoPost