CBP Receives Third Exception Request Under UFLPA, Agency Officials Say

CBP has received a third "exception request" under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act seeking to rebut the presumption that goods with content from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor, CBP officials said at a press conference March 14. The agency is still working through all three requests received so far by the agency, the officials said. CBP announced it had received the first two in January (see 2301270078).

"We are working with those importers that requested the exception," said Eric Choy, executive director of CBP's Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Division. "It is a continuous dialogue." If the exceptions are approved, CBP will announce them publicly via a report to Congress, as required by UFLPA, he said. "If ultimately there is a decision that enough information was provided to overcome the rebuttable presumption, then we would report to Congress," Choy said.

At the press conference, CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner for Trade AnnMarie Highsmith also confirmed that there are plans to update the UFLPA Entity List, although she declined to give specifics on exactly when. The list is "within the purview of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force," where CBP has observer status, Highsmith said.

"It is incumbent upon all the members" of the interagency task force "to submit nominations," Choy added, and the task force is "going through the process," he said.

Highsmith said that Congress "has been very generous" in helping provide additional resources to CBP to help the agency with the rollout of UFLPA. In addition to a new UFLPA Dashboard that debuted on March 14 (see 2303140037), a chatbot is being added to the website, along with additional videos and updates to the FAQs to provide more information to importers on how to avoid violating the UFLPA (see 2303140037).

Funding also is being used for new hires at CBP, including import specialists, international trade analysts and information technology personnel, Highsmith and Choy said. But hiring "doesn't happen overnight," and the training process for import specialists requires a "six- to 12-month glide path to get them trained up," Choy said. "All those additional resources are greatly appreciated," Choy said. "We need to put those investments in and to get them spun up and hit the ground, at least walking."