The office of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has issued the following press release:
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Transaction and Sourcing Knowledge (TASK) Act (S. 4095). The bill would direct the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require publicly traded companies to report on any aspect of their supply chain directly linked to products using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as well as any transactions with certain companies that pose national security risks.
“Far too many American corporations profit from slave labor in China,” Rubio said. “It is already illegal for these companies to import goods made with slave labor into the United States, and in two months, they will be prohibited from importing any goods from Xinjiang unless they can prove there is no slave labor. These companies must be transparent with their shareholders by disclosing the risks associated with products linked to Xinjiang and with companies complicit in genocide and the use of slave labor.”
Senators Mike Braun (R-IN), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) are also original cosponsors.
Specifically, the TASK Act would direct the SEC to require the reporting of:
- A company’s sourcing and due diligence activities related to Xinjiang.
- Transactions with Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies or companies placed on the Department of Commerce’s Entity List.
- Whether there is a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee within the operations of a publicly traded company with facilities in China