A report on forced labor in critical mineral supply chains identified "major entities" operating in the Xinjiang province of China and documented evidence of their involvement in labor transfer programs of Uyghurs from the region. The report also highlighted the risk that products made by those entities have entered the global market over the previous two years.
CBP's Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee will be holding its quarterly meeting on June 18 in Washington, D.C., according to a Federal Register notice.
Chinese companies on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List are establishing subsidiaries away from Xinjiang to avoid U.S. scrutiny, risk intelligence firm Kharon said May 20.
Robert Silvers, a former DHS official who worked on forced labor enforcement, China policy and issues related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., joined Ropes & Gray. Silvers will co-chair the firm’s national security practice, where he will focus on “critical matters at the intersection of national security, technology, and law,” it said. He left DHS in December after serving as undersecretary for policy and chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force.
Many pharmaceutical products sold in the U.S. could have significant exposure to forced labor from their China-based supply chains, according to a report from risk management company Exiger.
Retail companies with any level of exposure in their supply chains to Chinese companies or products need to be taking proactive steps to ensure that they will not fall afoul of Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act enforcement, a compliance expert told importers in a webinar hosted by Logistics Brief.
Singapore-headquartered Maxeon Solar Technologies is considering a challenge to CBP's decision to hold its solar panels for alleged non-compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, it said in an April 4 news release. The company said that it is "considering exercising its right to contest CBP's decision at the U.S. Court of International Trade to demonstrate that Maxeon's legacy supply chains are fully UFLPA-compliant."
CBP is still holding up DJI's shipments of drones into the U.S., according to an interview with a spokesman for the company recounted in a trade publication about commercial unmanned aerial vehicles.
Robust communication with importers’ suppliers, as well as using publicly available alternative data sets, are two ways that companies can ensure UFPLA compliance, especially in an environment of uncertainty about how much the White House will focus on forced labor in the supply chain, according to speakers participating on two webinars hosted by Kharon last week.
Customs brokers and importers are still grappling with how to comply with the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives that went into effect just after midnight on March 12 (see 2503120054).