UFLPA: Steel & Sweetener

For the first time,  steel and artificial sweetener companies have been added to the UFLPA Entity List. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply a rebuttable presumption that goods produced by Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd. will be prohibited from entering the United States.

Including the two entities identified above, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) – chaired by DHS and whose member agencies also include the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Justice, Labor, State, and the Treasury – has added 75 entities to the UFLPA Entity List since the UFLPA was signed into law in December 2021.

The UFLPA Entity List includes companies that are active in the apparel, agriculture, polysilicon, plastics, chemicals, batteries, household appliances, electronics, and food additives sectors, among others. Identifying these additional entities provides U.S. importers with more information to conduct due diligence and examine their supply chains for risks of forced labor to ensure compliance with the UFLPA.

Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd (“Xinjiang Bayi”), also known as Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Baosteel Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and Bayi Iron and Steel, is a company based in the Urumqi Prefecture of the XUAR that is engaged in iron ore mining and steel manufacturing.

Its main products include rebar, hot-rolled coils, and medium and thick steel plates.

The United States government has reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable information, that Xinjiang Bayi works with the government of the XUAR to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, or receive Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Information reviewed by the FLETF, including publicly available information, indicates that Xinjiang Bayi has repeatedly participated in the transfer and receipt of ethnic minorities from the XUAR, likely including Uyghurs and/or Kyrgyz, through the Xinjiang government labor programs in Kashgar and Hotan Prefectures and Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture.  The FLETF therefore determined that the activities of Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. satisfy the criteria for addition to the UFLPA Entity List described in section 2(d)(2)(B)(ii).

Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd., also known as GSweet, Changzhou Guanghui Food Technology Co., Ltd., Changzhou Guanghui Food Additive Co., Ltd., and previously known as Changzhou Guanghui Biotechnology Co., Ltd., is a company headquartered in Jiangsu, China, that produces and sells aspartame, an artificial sweetener and food additive. The United States government has reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable information, that Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd. sources material from the XUAR. Information reviewed by the FLETF, including publicly available information, indicates that Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd. sources L-Phenylalanine (a production input used to manufacture aspartame) and aspartame from the XUAR. The FLETF therefore determined that the activities of Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd. satisfy the criteria for addition to the UFLPA Entity List described in section 2(d)(2)(B)(v).

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List