DHS has added three more companies to the list of companies cited for using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), according to a notice.
DHS will add three more entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, it said in a notice released June 11. Dongguan Oasis Shoes Co., Ltd. (also known as Dongguan Oasis Shoe Industry Co. Ltd.; Dongguan Luzhou Shoes Co., Ltd.; and Dongguan Lvzhou Shoes Co., Ltd.); Shandong Meijia Group Co., Ltd. (also known as Rizhao Meijia Group); and Xinjiang Shenhuo Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd. are being added for “working with the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” The new listings will take effect June 12.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet June 26 remotely and in person in Long Beach, California, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due by June 21.
Contradictory language in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act -- which says the government may list entities that source items from Xinjiang, but says that the rebuttable presumption only applies to goods "produced by an entity on a list" -- may result in more litigation over the entity list, trade mavens say.
Sen. Marco Rubio, co-author of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, along with the leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Select Committee on China, have provided detailed supply chain maps for lithium-ion battery makers CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.) and Gotion High Tech, linking them to companies that transfer Uyghur workers and companies that mine minerals or make aluminum in Xinjiang.
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A Kelley Drye attorney, who used to be part of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force due to his role at the U.S. Trade Representative's Office of Labor Affairs, said the recent 26 additions to the FLETF's Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list are significant because they are not companies directly employing Uyghurs harvesting cotton or in fabric mills or cut and sew operations.
China’s Foreign Ministry this week criticized the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, calling it “bullying” and a “double standard” one day after the Senate Finance Committee accused several major automakers of poor UFLPA compliance (see 2405200009).
Failures in import compliance were revealed in the Senate Finance Committee's report on two auto companies' imports of parts or cars containing parts made by a company on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list (see 2405200009). But the report also exposed a weakness in CBP's ability to detect goods that should be detained under UFLPA, finding that Jaguar Land Rover imported spare parts that included LAN transformers made by a Chinese company on the entity list and only one manufacturer removed from the finished product.
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