CBP updated its ACE manufacturer ID Error Code Dictionary to add new condition codes related to the deployment of a new Chinese postal code requirement on March 18. New codes cover instances where the Chinese postal code is invalid or none is submitted, as well as where the postal code is in the Xinjiang Uyghur Administrative Region of China, among other things. The new Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act “Region Alert” will require the Chinese postal code to be submitted with the cargo release and included in the MID for entries with a country of origin of China that use a Chinese MID (see 2301270070).
CBP targeted 282 shipments worth more than $69 million in January 2023, including goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and withhold release orders, the agency said in its most recent operational update. The number of entries targeted was lower but the value higher than December's total of 310 entries worth over $59 million (see 2301230028). CBP also seized 1,514 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $186 million in January, and completed 27 audits that identified $7.7 million in duties and fees owed to the U.S. government for goods that had been improperly declared, the agency said.
Two Democrats and a Republican are asking the CEO of Shein, a fast-fashion powerhouse, about its use of de minimis and its purchases of Xinjiang cotton. All products made in Xinjiang are barred from entry to the U.S., unless importers can prove they were not made with forced labor, but small packages imported directly by consumers escape CBP scrutiny.
CBP announced it has modified a withhold release order against imports of synthetic disposable gloves manufactured by YTY Industry Holdings, and will now allow gloves from the Malaysian company to enter the U.S. “provided they are otherwise in compliance with U.S. laws,” it said. “Shipments of YTY Group’s synthetic gloves received on or after February 8, 2023, will no longer be detained at U.S. ports of entry,” CBP said.
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CBP is now detaining polyvinyl chloride products for forced labor under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, customs lawyer Ted Murphy said in a client alert Feb. 7. That’s in addition to a newfound focus on aluminum (see 2301120046), as well as the high priority sectors listed in the UFLPA statute: cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon, Murphy said.
CBP has started issuing Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act detention notices on aluminum products, according to a Jan. 31 client advisory from Maersk. “CBP has recently initiated enforcement efforts against aluminum products and will most likely focus on aluminum automotive commodities and other commodities classified in Chapter 76 (Aluminum and articles thereof),” Maersk said. “Companies importing aluminum products, or commodities with aluminum components, should be proactive in ensuring compliance with the UFLPA. This may include conducting due diligence on their supply chain and implementing compliance programs.”
A field will be available in the ACE Automated Broker Interface for customs brokers and other filers to transmit the Chinese postal code once the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Region Alert postal code requirement takes effect March 18, CBP’s Katie Woodson said during the agency’s bi-weekly ACE call. For China-origin entries after March 18, where the Chinese manufacturer ID is transmitted but the name and address of the manufacturer does not include the postal code, brokers and filers “will have the ability to input [that] information, and they can then input the postal code field that's missing,” Woodson said.
CBP is lifting its forced labor finding on Malaysian palm oil producer Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, after finding that, ”based upon additional information" Sime Darby provided to CBP that "establishes by satisfactory evidence that the subject palm oil and derivative products are no longer mined, produced, or manufactured in any part with forced labor,” the agency said in a notice released Feb. 2.
Four Republican senators introduced a bill to strip China of Permanent Normal Trade Relations status, requiring the president annually to consider China's eligibility under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. The bill would expand that amendment, adding human rights and trade abuses as factors making a country ineligible for most favored nation tariffs. The bill was introduced by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; J.D. Vance, R-Ohio; and Ted Budd, R-N.C.