Full UFLPA Implementation Remains Set for June 21, CBP Says

Despite industry requests for delayed enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to allow for a review of CBP's coming guidance around the new law (see 2203110059), the agency seems set for full implementation starting June 21, said Elva Muneton, CBP acting executive director for the UFLPA Implementation Task Force. "The expectation is that we will be ready to implement the Uyghur Act on June 21 and that we have the resources and that we're going to take the approach of addressing any shipments coming from that region," she said. "So the question is, are we ready to implement? Yes, we are. June 21." Muneton and others spoke June 1 during the first of three CBP webinars about the UFLPA (see 2205250021).

The agency intends to publish its full strategy of enforcement for applying the UFLPA June 21, the same day the new rebuttable presumption for goods coming from Xinjiang takes effect, though CBP is "planning on providing some operational guidance to the importer community" before June 21, she said. "We are working diligently to get that published and we anticipate that hopefully, we can get it out within the next week or so." That guidance "is only a piece of what this statute requires" and the "overall strategy on the implementation and what this law requires, will come out on June 21," she said.

Any shipments found to be subject to the rebuttable presumption will face the typical detention process, which allows the importer 30 days to "provide any additional information that CBP will need to be able to determine if that cargo should be admissible," she said. "When it comes to our enforcement actions, if any of the shipments coming from" the Xinjiang region or that are related to the entities that are listed by the agency in a coming entity list, "those are the shipments that CBP will consider a high risk and will detain and then request the additional clear and convincing evidence."

The full strategy is expected to provide more details around what is considered clear and convincing evidence, but CBP's approach to enforcing the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which requires North Korean labor to be considered forced labor, may provide some insight. Thomas Kendrick, CBP assistant director of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Center of Excellence and Expertise, noted a CBP ruling that involved an actual transaction (see 2103300047). "I think that will be insightful for those questioning what is clear and convincing evidence," he said.

Asked whether CBP has a threshold for how much of a finished product is made using forced labor in order to be considered in violation, Muneton said the statute gives no percentage. "If there's a part of an input that is coming from the Xinjiang region, then that shipment will be considered containing forced labor" and won't be allowed in the U.S., she said. "There's no percentage and there's no de minimis."

One of the three webinars on the UFLPA eventually will be posted to CBP's site, she said.