‘Watershed moment’ as Court of Appeal find companies trading in forced labour goods risk prosecution
A Court of Appeal ruling that the National Crime Agency misdirected itself in law when it chose not to investigate whether imported cotton goods were the product of forced labour or other human rights abuses has been described as a ‘monumental victory’.
The judgment in World Uyghur Congress v National Crime Agency is said to be the first case in the world involving Uyghur forced labour.
After receiving a ‘substantial body of evidence’ from the World Uyghur Congress, the NCA said it could not investigate whether consignments of cotton goods imported from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (XUAR) were the product of forced labour or other human rights abuses.
The agency said an investigation could not begin until a ‘specific product’ was identified as criminal property. If ‘adequate consideration’ is paid for criminal property, its decision letter said, an exemption from liability under section 329(2)(c) of the Proceeds of Crime Act means it is ‘cleansed’ and free to be bought and sold without consequence.