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.
DHS will add three more entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, it said in a notice released Dec. 8. Anhui Xinya New Materials Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Chaohu Youngor Color Spinning Technology Co., Ltd. and Chaohu Xinya Color Spinning Technology Co., Ltd.); COFCO Sugar Holdings Co., Ltd.; and Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group Co., Ltd. (also known as Sichuan Mianyang Jingweida Technology Co., Ltd. and JWD Technology; and formerly known as Mianyang High-tech Zone Jingweida Technology 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 Dec. 11.
The Court of International Trade doesn't have jurisdiction to hear importer Southern Cross Seafoods' challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service's rejection of its application for preapproval to import Chilean sea bass, the court ruled Dec. 7. Judge Timothy Reif said that the agency's decision, issued under the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention Act of 1984 (AMLRCA), doesn't constitute an "embargo or other quantitative restriction," barring jurisdiction under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction.
CBP hopes to deploy a "centralized website portal" by mid-2024 for importers to submit requests for exception, applicability, and admissibility reviews under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, and Withhold Release Orders, the agency said.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., called on DHS to do more isotopic testing for enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The plea for more isotopic testing, which came in a Nov. 29 letter, is in response to a Reuters report finding that of 86 samples tested from December 2022 to May, 15% tested positive for Xinjiang cotton (see 2309010038).