The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) creates a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China are produced with forced labor and therefore prohibited from being imported into the United States under Section 307 of the Tariff Act, which prohibits imports produced with forced labor. The prohibition extends to any downstream product, including those produced in third countries, which incorporate any amount, however small, of prohibited goods or forced labor.
Enforcement of the Act by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has created major problems for importers, particularly those importing products initially selected as specific targets: apparel; cotton and cotton products; silica-based products (including polysilicon); and tomatoes and downstream products. Once a shipment is detained by CBP, importers can only avoid application of the presumption through extensive, document driven descriptions of supply chains and production activities. A cottage industry has developed of companies providing supply chain tracking, used by CBP as well as the import community.
The Act created a Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), a multi-agency task force chaired by Homeland Security, to be responsible for monitoring enforcement of Section 307 of the Tariff Act, including developing and updating a Strategy to support that enforcement. The 2024 Strategy update issued in July added three new product areas for targeting: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), aluminum, and seafood. The inclusion of downstream products means that, for aluminum, not just the raw materials and initial production of ingots and billets, or even the production of aluminum products such as coils, extrusions or wire, are covered, but also any product incorporating any amount of such items included in the prohibition.
CBP has developed an Attachment (UFLPA Attachment 2-B) used with detention notices providing detailed information on the supporting materials that would be required to overcome the presumption. In addition to a lengthy list applicable to all products, the Attachment includes a specific list of Supply Chain Tracing Information applicable to aluminum:
Aluminum products:
- Provide flowchart(s) of all manufacturing steps and distinguish what company performs each step (if more than one company is involved in the production of the aluminum product and finishing coats).
- Provide certificate(s) of origin or manufacturer’s affidavit attesting to the origin of each material used to produce the aluminum product. Manufacturer’s affidavits should provide the name of the entity and specific location where each material is mined, smelted, and manufactured.
- Provide raw materials invoices; purchase orders and proof of payment; production records; and export documents and information.
- Provide details on the manufacturing process where the aluminum was produced into ingots and billets.
- Provide the location where the aluminum was further manufactured into extrusions, coils, wire, or other aluminum products.
The Attachment also includes a similar list for steel products, even though they have not been specifically targeted so far:
Steel products:
- Provide flowchart(s) of all manufacturing steps and distinguish what company performs each step (if more than one company is involved in the production of the steel product).
- Provide certificate(s) of origin or manufacturer’s affidavit attesting to the origin of each material used to produce the steel products from the raw materials through finished products. Manufacturer’s affidavits should provide the name of the entity and specific location where each material is mined, sinister, blast furnace, basic oxygen furnace (BOF) or Electric Arc Furnace (EAF,) refined, continuous cast into semi-finished products, reheated. and hot rolled, then produced into long products (rods/bars, sections) and flat products (plate, hot rolled coils, welded tubes, and light gage products.
- Provide raw materials invoices; purchase orders and proof of payment; production records; and export documents and information.
- Provide details on the manufacturing processes.
- Provide the location where the iron was further manufactured into semi-finished, steel, and/or stainless steel.
- Provide bills of lading and/or other documents tracing the movement of the inputs through export to the United States.
