Report: No Shipments Detained Under UFLPA Released Yet, CBP Official Says

CBP has yet to release a single shipment detained under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act since the law took effect in June, a CBP official recently told online news and commentary site The Dispatch in an interview. Eric Choy, acting executive director of CBP’s Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, said the agency has yet to receive a request for UFLPA exception for goods from or connected to China’s Xinjiang region, though companies have attempted to demonstrate that detained goods are not from or tied to Xinjiang.

Officials have said CBP has targeted 1,452 entries valued at $429 million under UFLPA (see 2209270029), though those targets mean CBP has only identified the shipment for further inspection, and the actual number detained is lower, The Dispatch said. The Dispatch cited a South China Morning News report that direct shipments from Xinjiang to the U.S. have actually increased after UFLPA took effect, with direct shipments in August reaching a 10-month high. CBP did not comment.