DHS Adds 3 to UFLPA Entity List, Including 2 Outside Xinjiang

DHS is adding three more Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list for their participation in forced labor transfer programs, including two based outside the Xinjiang province of China.

One, Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group, based in Sichuan, produces “magnetic devices including network transformers, network filters, power transformers, inductors, radio frequency filters, and other devices,” DHS said in a news release. “Jingweida Technology is a documented participant in government-sponsored labor transfer programs,” working with the government of Awati County in Xinjiang to “transfer persecuted ethnic minorities from Awati County to Jingweida Technology,” DHS said.

Another, Anhui Xinya New Materials, is based in Anhui. It produces “functional fibers, special fiber yarns, other textile materials made with hemp and materials made with cotton, wool, Tencel, and other products,” DHS said. “Xinya New Materials worked with an established government-sponsored labor transfer program, Xinjiang Aid, to recruit and transfer persecuted minorities from Pishan County in Xinjiang to work in its facility in Anhui Province.”

The third company, Cofco Sugar Holdings, is headquartered in Xinjiang. The sugar refiner, producer and importer also “trades and produces various agricultural products, including sugar, fruit (including tomatoes), and vegetable processing.” DHS said Cofco “participated in government-sponsored poverty alleviation and cooperated with the local government to complete labor transfers.” The company “has visited the homes of persecuted minorities in a Xinjiang village for recruiting these persecuted minorities to work in one of its facilities,” DHS said.

The listings take effect Dec. 11, when the DHS notice announcing the additions is to be published in the Federal Register. Effective on that date, goods from Jingweida Technology, Xinya New Materials and Cofco will be subject to a rebuttable presumption that their goods are made with forced labor.

“No technical corrections or removals are being made to the UFLPA Entity List at this time,” DHS said in the notice. The additions bring the number of companies listed on the UFLPA Entity List up to 30, the agency said in the news release.

“We have shown again through today’s enforcement actions that the United States will not tolerate forced labor in the goods that come into this country,” said Robert Silvers of DHS, chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force. “Companies must conduct due diligence and know their supply chains. The interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force will continue to designate entities known to violate our laws, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue its vigilant enforcement at our ports.”