DJI has claimed that imports of its drones in to the United States are being stopped by customs. This means that the new DJI Air 3S won’t be on retailers shelves in the U.S. any time soon.
What has DJI said?
Earlier this week, the news agency Reuters reported that DJI had claimed that the U.S. government was preventing the company’s drones from entering the country. However, this is not due to the Countering CCP Drones Act which will ban DJI products if it becomes law. DJI showed Reuters a letter the company had sent to its distributors in the United States. In this letter, DJI claimed that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is using the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to block the importation of DJI’s drones.
What’s the UFLPA?
The UFLPA was signed into law by President Joe Biden on December 23, 2021. The law is intended to tackle the Chinese government’s use of forced labor against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang region. Since it came into force in June 2022, the UFLPA prohibits the importation of any products that are made in the Xinjiang region.
What has the U.S. government said?
Congressman John Moolenaar and Congresswoman Elise Stefanik issued a joint statement about the issue. It said, “For years CCP-drone manufacturer DJI has been rightfully blacklisted by the U.S. government for actively aiding the CCP in carrying out surveillance for their genocidal crimes against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Now we have discovered that DJI is not only aiding this genocide but also forcing Uyghur slave labor in Xinjiang to manufacture the very drones used to surveil the human rights abuses against them in direct violation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act”.
How has DJI responded?
DJI told Reuters that no forced labor is involved at any stage of its manufacturing process. In a blog post, DJI also stated that it “does not manufacture anything – in whole or in part – in Xinjiang. DJI has no manufacturing facilities in Xinjiang, nor do we source materials from the region. All of our manufacturing is based in Shenzhen, where our company is headquartered, or Malaysia”. In addition, DJI explained that the UFLPA only applies to companies specifically listed on the Act Entity List. DJI is not on that list at the current time.
What next?
DJI says it is actively working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to provide documentation to show that the company complies with UFLPA. The company also stated, “The evidence clearly supports DJI’s compliance, while the claims of any violations are baseless and unfounded. We are confident that this issue will be resolved promptly if evaluated on its merits”.
What we think
We have been reporting on the progress of the Countering CCP Drones Act for some time. However, if anyone thought that the concerns over a possible ban on DJI drones would come to nothing, it’s time to think again. It’s clear that some elements of the U.S. government are serious in their attempts to stop all DJI products in the country. Whether or not the current ban will remain in place has yet to be seen. DJI is confident that the UFLPA does not apply to its products and may well win its legal battle this time round. Unfortunately, the long-term future does not look so bright for DJI in the United States.
