The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that would ban the import of all products from Xinjiang, a region of northwestern China where human rights groups, researchers, some Western governments and others say that Beijing is waging genocide against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities who are of the Islamic faith.

The bill still needs to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Joe Biden in order to become law. While a time frame for that wasn’t immediately known, both approvals are likely to happen, as the House passed a similar bill last year and Biden has spoken out against China’s alleged actions in Xinjiang, which also include forced labor.

Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced the legislation.

The development is relevant for the promotional products industry because firms – suppliers and distributors – that are importing product will have to ensure that their supply chains contain no links to Xinjiang. The majority of products sold in the North American promo industry are produced in China.

Reports on alleged forced labor and other repression tactics in Xinjiang have been circulating – and growing – in the West for at least a couple years now, and proactive suppliers have told ASI Media that they’ve taken steps to ensure their supply networks aren’t connected to Xinjiang.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill that would ban the import of products from China's Xinjiang region, the latest effort in Washington to hold Beijing accountable for what U.S. officials say is an ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim groups https://t.co/S2UgLxyXVg pic.twitter.com/9krfl2T89H

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 15, 2021

Formally called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the new legislation would create a “rebuttable presumption,” which means its implicitly assumed that goods manufactured in Xinjiang are produced with what amounts to slave labor. As a result, all products from the region would be banned from entering and being sold in the U.S. under the 1930 Tariff Act, unless U.S. authorities specially certify them.

Some products originating from Xinjiang, including cotton, tomatoes and solar items, are already banned.

The new banning bill received bipartisan support in the Senate. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, and Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, introduced the bill.

“We will not turn a blind eye to the [Chinese Communist Party’s] ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses," Rubio said in a statement. Added Merkley: “No American corporation should profit from these abuses. No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor.”