Winnings via their Appliances Online business, as well as The Good Guys and Betta Electrical, have found themselves selling products that are caught up in new US Government bans after the Company that manufacturers ChiQ appliances sold by these retailers and in some cases distributed by Narta to retailers have again appeared on a list of Chinese Companies who have been accused of human rights violations.
Overnight the U.S has renewed its warning against companies linked to forced-labour allegations, also caught up in the bans is Apple, and Lenovo who have been accused of selling or using components products manufactured under questionable conditions in China.
Banned Company Hefei Meiling is again on the latest US list, they changed their name to Changhong Meiling, this is the same business that manufactures ChiQ appliances sold at Australian retailers as well as air conditioners and ChiQ TV’s.
The Company produces multiple door refrigerators, other related products as well as appliances for Electrolux.
Overnight the US Commerce Department issued a new rule banning business with 11 China-based companies implicated in human rights violations against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region.
Changhong Meiling is one of those Companies and Appliances Online are selling their products.
Major CE and appliance retailers in Australia must stop sourcing from China’s Xinjiang region due to the “grave risk of forced labour”, a coalition of civil society groups said overnight amid mounting global pressure on Beijing over its treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority.
More than 180 organisations urged brands from Changhong to Adidas to Amazon to end sourcing of products from the region and cut ties with any suppliers in China that benefit from the forced labour of the ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim groups.
United Nations experts estimate that at least a million Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centres in Xinjiang.
The US Federal Government have said that businesses that fail to exit supply chains, ventures and investment in Xinjiang “run a high risk of violating U.S. law,” the State Department and five other agencies warned in an updated advisory hinting that even indirect links to rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority in the region could bring penalties.
At this stage it’s not known whether the Australian Federal Government is going to act against Companies importing products into Australia from the region.
It’s also been claimed that Australian companies selling US products manufactured in the region, might run afoul of U.S. law by failing to address risks in Xinjiang.
Another category facing problems is Australian solar panel importers.
The addition of polysilicon to the list poses a major challenge for these companies.
Roughly 80% of the material, used in solar panels, is made in China, and half of that in Xinjiang.
Most Australian retailers have ignored passed bans and are openly continuing to sell products manufactured under questionable conditions claims observers.
Beijing actively promotes the reprehensible practice of forced labour and abusive DNA collection and analysis schemes to repress its citizens,”
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said overnight.
CHiQ was even awarded a gong by Canstar Blue as questions were raised about the way their products were manufactured.
“Our latest action will ensure that our goods and technologies are not used in the Chinese Communist Party’s despicable offensive against defenceless Muslim minority populations.”
In Australia CE and appliance retailers have admitted to ChannelNews that they fail to screen for human rights violations when considering the ranging of products for their store networks.
The stronger overnight warning by Washington “increases the risk of companies facing large fines, criminal charges and cancelled contracts with U.S. partners,” said one leading law firm executive.
ChannelNews has asked executives at the Changhong based supplier of the ChiQ products to retailers to comment but at this stage there has been no response.
We also asked the CEO of Appliances online for a comment, we are still waiting.
A recent Australian Strategic Policy Institute report claims that Chinese appliance and CE manufacturers are forcing Uyghurs and other minorities to work in factories across the country that supply famous brands such as Nike, Apple and Dell, and 80 others including Changhong and several clothing manufacturers whose products are sold in Australia.
