The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee recently submitted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection nearly a dozen recommendations on ways it can improve guidance for importers on CBP’s enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
The UFLPA establishes a rebuttable presumption that goods made wholly or in part in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are made with forced labor and excluded from entry into the U.S. All businesses with products whose supply chains include Chinese materials should understand both CBP’s importer guidance and the related enforcement strategy and ensure that they are being implemented into their business operations.
At a June 18 meeting COAC approved recommendations that CBP make the following changes to its importer guidance document.
- simplify it to be more accessible to importers of all experience levels, including by incorporating visuals, decision trees, flowcharts, and hyperlinks
- clarify the different roles that the ports and the Centers of Excellence and Expertise play in managing a UFLPA detention
- increase focus on importer obligations in applicability reviews
- clearly explain policies for allowing extensions of time to provide documentation in response to a UFLPA detention
- clarify the type and nature of documentation required for supply chain tracing (to include illustrations or images of the types of documents that would support a typical transaction)
- clarify current policy and methods for how importers can best communicate with CBP during applicability reviews to ensure that any questions CBP may have concerning the submission can be addressed prior to a decision on the submission being made
- clarify the role that isotopic testing plays in demonstrating that goods are not subject to the UFLPA (CBP issued in November 2024 a guide on the use of such testing)
- better explain how importers of all experience levels can access freely available resources for vetting their supply chains
COAC also urged CBP to accelerate its establishment of a portal to (1) facilitate the submission of responses to forced labor detentions, which can involve hundreds if not thousands of pages of documents, and (2) facilitate and enhance the transparency of communications between importers and the many different officials at CBP that manage forced labor detentions. CBP did recently announce a new portal for receiving allegations of forced labor.
In addition, COAC’s Forced Labor Working noted that, as part of an effort to look at long-term solutions for importers to manage UFLPA compliance, it is considering a type of trusted trader program centered on vetting protocols importers use to screen their supply chains. “Such a collaborative program would help CBP protect the national and economic security of the country,” the working group said, “while ensuring that the principles of fair trade level the playing field by rewarding those importers willing to help the Government meet its mission objectives.”
However, it is unclear to what extent CBP may act on any of the recommendations. The agency recently informed COAC members that it is bringing all existing subcommittees and workgroups to a close within a few months and plans to restructure them to focus on issues like national security, protecting domestic industry, and trade enforcement. The working group clearly believes enhanced CBP efforts on forced labor imports can fit in with those goals, but it remains to be seen whether CBP will agree.
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg offers a comprehensive suite of services to help companies address forced labor concerns around the world, including supply chain reviews, due diligence strategies, and proactive remediation. ST&R also maintains a frequently updated web page offering a broad range of information on forced labor-related efforts in the U.S. and around the world. For more information, please contact ST&R at supplychainvisibility@strtrade.com.
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