Linglong (FOTO: printscreen/youtube)
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) for car tires manufactured in Serbia by Chinese-owned Linglong International Europe D.O.O. Zrenjanin company.
The U.S. agency announced that the decision was effective immediately, and that Linglong tire shipments would be stopped at all ports of entry to the United States due to, as the agency explained, evidence indicating the use of forced labor in production.
CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott said the U.S. would not tolerate forced labor in global supply chains.
According to CBP's claims, the decision was made after an investigation and analysis of numerous pieces of evidence, including statements by workers, photographs, employment contracts, notes from the field, messages, reports by NGOs, media and academic analyses.
The agency's conclusion is that workers at the Zrenjanin factory owned by Chinese Linglong have been exposed to all the key indicators of forced labor defined by the International Labor Organization, including retaining personal documents, threats and intimidation, isolation, excessive overtime, withholding wages, debt bondage, abusive conditions, and abuse of vulnerability.
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