DHS Releases Update on UFLPA Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security, Chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) released a summary of enforcement efforts since enactment of the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act. Highlighted in the fact sheet are the impacts the FLETF has made on Solar, PVC and Cotton supply chains, as well as a summary of the recent designation of New High Priority Sectors for Enforcement

In the two years since the June 2022 implementation of its enforcement mechanism, the rebuttable presumption that certain goods are produced with forced labor, the UFLPA has become a key part of U.S. efforts to eradicate forced labor and promote accountability for the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in the XUAR.

The trade community has responded by enhancing its due diligence programs to ensure compliance. The growing demand for compliant supply chains has impacted global sourcing strategies, resulting in greater innovation, growth and diversification among trusted trading partners, making our supply chains more resilient and sustainable.


Expanding and Enforcing the UFLPA Entity List

Since implementation of the rebuttable presumption in June 2022, CBP has reviewed more than 9,000 shipments valued at over $3.4 billion, covering a broad range of products from apparel, automotive parts, chemicals, electronics, flooring, and solar panels.

The UFLPA Entity List now includes 68 entities, 48 of which were added in the last 13 months. These entities represent a large number of industry sectors and are located in the XUAR and other provinces in China.

Impact of UFLPA Implementation and Enforcement

The UFLPA has led to actions intended to keep goods made with forced labor out of supply chains for a variety of U.S. sectors:

Solar: In response to demands for solar supply chains untainted by forced labor, U.S. polysilicon producers have entered into more than $7 billion in long-term sales agreements with component manufacturers and invested more than $575 million in increased production capacity, according to U.S. producers. This increased capacity will allow the United States to reach our climate goals faster than was anticipated in 2022 before the UFLPA was implemented.

Textiles and Apparel: More than 20% of the world’s cotton is grown in China. As a result of DHS’ focus on enforcement in apparel and cotton products, importers have shifted supply chains from the PRC to mitigate their risk. Apparel industry reports indicate that more than 95% of U.S. companies have actively enhanced their supply chain due diligence efforts with the use of technology and verification tools. With its new Textile Enforcement Plan, DHS is expanding its enforcement efforts to address risk of XUAR-sourced cotton in de minimis shipments and to protect the textile and apparel industries’ investments in clean Free Trade agreement supply chains.

Automotive: There is widespread reporting of forced labor in automotive supply chains. Due to the UFLPA’s call to enhance efforts to exclude supplies with higher risks of forced labor, automakers are conducting more comprehensive due diligence, identifying and mitigating risk in their supply chains. Companies are taking proactive steps to ensure that goods brought into the United States are free from inputs that do not demonstrate an absence of forced labor from Xinjiang or produced by a named entity on the UFLPA Entity List.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) in Flooring: The XUAR produces 10% of the world’s PVC, the majority of which is used to manufacture vinyl flooring. U.S. imports of PVC products declined by 48% in the last 12 months as U.S. importers shifted away from suppliers that utilized XUAR-sourced PVC in certain flooring products. Industry reports acknowledge these shifts away from PRC supply chains and have resulted in new and expanded PVC and flooring production capacities in the United States, Mexico, India and Vietnam.

[Fact Sheet]