Recently, UFLPA has caused heated discussions among China-US trade stakeholders. As Chinese lawyers with rich experience in international trade, we have prepared the following articles to brief you on this Act.
1. What is UFLPA？
UFLPA refers to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2021. Among the departments involved in this Act, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have played a major role. FLETF is responsible for formulating the specific policies, among which the UFLPA Entity List is an important one. CBP is in charge of implementing the policies formulated by FLETF, preventing the importation of products listed in the UFLPA Entity List into the United States in particular.
CBP released the UFLPA Operational Guidance for Importers on June 13, 2022, providing guidance to the importers concerning the new enforcement procedures, measures (including detention, exclusion and seizure) and requirements for evidence. On June 17, FLETF held a public hearing after soliciting public opinions and submitted to Congress the Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in People’s Republic of China (“Strategy”) , pursuant to Section 2(c) of the UFLPA. As of June 21, 2022, the rebuttable presumption, stipulated in Section 3 of the UFLPA, came into effect.
2. What does the UFLPA Entity List include？
1) entities in Xinjiang that mine, produce, or manufacture wholly or in part any goods, wares, articles and merchandise with forced labor, stated in list (i).
This list is meant to target the companies located in Xinjiang that use so-called forced labor.
2) entities that work with the government of Xinjiang to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of Xinjiang, stated in list (ii).
This list includes companies out of Xinjiang that work with the Xinjiang government.
3) products made by entities in lists (i) and (ii), stated in list (iii).
This list now includes 19 companies, whose products include textiles, computer accessories, electronic products, hair accessories, photovoltaic products, polysilicon products, railway transportation equipment, handheld electronic equipment or vehicle-mounted touch screens and other similar electronic products, cotton products, garments, etc.
4) entities that export products identified in (iii) from the PRC into the United States.
This list is aimed at imposing sanctions on the exporters. Currently no company is listed in this list but there is possibility that FLETF will add entities into this list.
5) entities and facilities that source material from Xinjiang or from persons working with theXinjiang government or the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) for purposes of the “poverty alleviation” program or the “pairing-assistance” program or any other government-labor scheme that uses forced labor.
This list is designed to cover the entities that purchase products that use so-called forced labor for the “government schemes” and is not limited to entities in Xinjiang judging from the entities published.
As for companies involved in China-US trade, we advise you to pay close attention to the UFLPA Entity List. If you have any queries in this aspect, please contact us via administrator@35.93.49.201.