UFLPA Strategy Updated

Tuesday the  Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) published an updated Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in the People’s Republic of China. 
 
The UFLPA requires that the FLETF provide annual updates to the UFLPA Strategy addressing the UFLPA Entity List,the list of products associated with certain listed entities, plans for enforcement and for identifying additional entities,and high-priority sectors. The 2023 updates to the UFLPA Strategy include changes and additions to:

• Chapter II. Evaluation and Description of Forced-Labor Schemes and UFLPA Entity List
• Chapter V. Additional Resources Necessary to Ensure No Goods Made with Forced Labor Enter at U.S. Ports
• Chapter VII. Coordination and Collaboration with Appropriate Nongovernmental Organizations and Private-Sector Entities

The updated UFLPA Strategy highlights enforcement of the UFLPA’s rebuttable presumption, which prohibits goods from being imported into the United States that are either produced in Xinjiang, or by entities identified on the UFLPA Entity List, unless the importer can prove, by clear and convincing evidence, the goods were not produced with forced labor.  In the first year of enforcement under the new law, U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reviewed more than 4,000 shipments valued at over $1.3 billion.
 
Additionally, the strategy highlights an expanded UFLPA Entity List.  Goods produced by four new companies and their subsidiaries will be restricted from entering the United States because of their work with the PRC government to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or members of persecuted groups, including Uyghur minorities, out of the Xinjiang Uyghur region. 

Goods produced by the sanctioned firms include Touch Screens for Handheld Devices and Cars, Polysilicon, including Solar-Grade Polysilicon, Processed Cotton, Cotton Products and Apparel, and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC); Chlor- Alkali Products; and Other Chemical and Textile Products.

The FLETF, chaired by the Department of Homeland Security, leads efforts to monitor implementation of the UFLPA and the broader U.S. law prohibiting the importation into the United States of goods made wholly or in part with forced labor. 

In addition to the Department of Homeland Security, the FLETF is comprised of seven member agencies:  the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the Departments of Labor, State, Treasury, Justice, and Commerce.