Sri Lanka has directed its officials to explore further enhancement of its legal framework to tighten barriers to forced labour imports, in addition to the Gazette on the prevention of forced labour under the Imports and Exports Control Act in July, Ministry of Trade Secretary K A Vimalenthirarajah said, speaking to the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) last week (8).
Acknowledging other countries’ efforts to enforce regulations against forced labour imports – in response to the United State’s sudden levy of a 10% to 12.5% tariff on 60 of its trading partners in July – Vimalenthirarajah said: “Some other countries have also tried to invoke these kinds of regulations in the future, so the Cabinet has directed the same Committee to work out the-long term procedure. We are now working on that to see whether the existing legal framework is enough, or if it is not, then where can there be amendments, or new enactments, and also regulations.”
Initially, Sri Lanka had faced a proposed 12.5% tariff under the US’s trade policy. Once Sri Lanka gazetted a formal ban on forced labour imports, Sri Lanka was moved to the 10% tariff tier when the rules were eventually operationalised by Washington’s United States Trade Representative (USTR) office.
Domestically, according to Vimalenthirarajah, Sri Lanka’s legal framework prohibits forced labour inputs, particularly covered by the Penal Code, and with further support offered by the Ministry of Labour.
“Sri Lanka is clear on forced labour management domestically. We have the network, legal framework, and the enforcement agency. There are legal and regulatory provisions, operationalisation and the institution arrangement. The Labour Ministry has clearly declared, under the Penal Code, Section 358a, forced labour has been criminalised. Domestically you can’t do it. If an imported good has inputs of forced labour, then our export would also be linked to forced labour.”
However, it was found during the meeting that beyond presenting a declaration to the Sri Lanka Customs, Sri Lankan importers are persuasively guided towards not importing forced labour goods for consumption and input into exports, rather being proactively legally bound.
“It is a persuasion, that is what we are trying to promote, that every importer ensures that they are engaging in ethical trade – then the regulations are a secondary matter. If our system and traders are ethical, then the system will automatically say. We talked to the leading Chambers, they also agree. They are trying to educate their members to follow the ethical procedure that the apparel industry and other industries are following now.”
The COPF Chairperson urged the Secretary to further elaborate on what further measures can be taken within the existing parameters to ensure that forced labour goods are not imported, to which he replied that Sri Lanka may avail of its diplomatic channels, and custom to custom channels of communication, in the case of severe cases. “Our diplomatic channel can be used. Even in the documentary evidence, you can cross check. Custom to Custom can work, if it is a severe case.”
