U.S. SEC rejects Apple bid to block shareholder proposal on forced labour -letter

The

U.S

.

Sec

urities and Exchange Commission has declined an effort by

Apple

Inc to skip a

shareholder


proposal

asking the iPhone maker to provide greater transparency in its efforts to keep

forced


labour

out of its supply chain.

A group of

shareholder

s earlier this year asked

Apple

‘s board to prepare a report on how the company protects workers in its supply chain from

forced


labour

. The req

ues

t for information covered the extent to which

Apple

has identified suppliers and sub-suppliers that are a risk for

forced


labour

, and how many suppliers

Apple

has taken action against.

In a

letter

from the

SEC

reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday, regulators denied

Apple

‘s move to

block

the

proposal

, saying that “it does not appear that the essential objectives of the

proposal

have been implemented” so far.

The

letter

means that

Apple

will have to face a vote on the

proposal

at its annual

shareholder

meeting next year, barring a deal with the

shareholder

s who made it.

Apple

did not immediately respond to a req

ues

t for comment.

American lawmakers last week passed a bill

banning imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns about

forced


labour

.

“There’s rightfully growing concern at all levels of government about the concentration camp-like conditions for Uygh

urs

and other Turkic Muslims living under Chinese government rule,” Vicky Wyatt, campaign director for SumOfUs, a group supporting the

shareholder


proposal

, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Apple

routinely asks the

SEC

to skip

shareholder


proposal

s, and the req

ues

ts are granted about half the time.

The

SEC

also denied

Apple

‘s req

ues

t to skip a

shareholder


proposal

that would give investors more information about the company’s use of non-disclosure agreements. –

Reuters