FORT LAUDERDALE -- With one week remaining, importers find themselves in the position of having to already comply with still unreleased policies as CBP begins enforcement of the rebuttable presumption under the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act, speakers said June 14 at a conference. The rebuttable presumption takes effect on June 21.
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CBP released an "operational guidance for importers" June 13 that explains the processes involved in Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act enforcement. The guidance puts in writing much of what was described in recent webinars (see 2206080033, 2206010034 and 2206020055) hosted by CBP on the UFLPA rebuttable presumption that goods involving the Xinjiang region of China are made with forced labor and illegal to import unless the importer can prove otherwise. The rebuttable presumption goes into effect June 21, and CBP plans to issue a more detailed "strategy" document on that day.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely June 29, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 24.
Social compliance audits meant to show to CBP the lack of Xinjiang forced labor for imports suspected to be subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act would require additional proof that the auditors weren't interfered with by the government or the company involved, said Thomas Kendrick, CBP assistant director of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Center of Excellence and Expertise. Kendrick and other CBP officials discussed UFLPA compliance on June 7 during the second of three webinars on the subject (see 2206010034).
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The 11 withhold release orders currently in place that involve companies or products from the Xinjiang region in China will become subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act as of June 21, said Elva Muneton, CBP acting executive director for the UFLPA Implementation Task Force, while speaking to a Los Angeles Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association webinar June 2. That means goods subject to those WROs that are detained by CBP as of June 21 will require clear and convincing evidence that forced labor wasn't involved to be allowed to enter the U.S, she said. Before June 21, those detained goods would continue through the WRO process, Muneton said.
Despite industry requests for delayed enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to allow for a review of CBP's coming guidance around the new law (see 2203110059), the agency seems set for full implementation starting June 21, said Elva Muneton, CBP acting executive director for the UFLPA Implementation Task Force. "The expectation is that we will be ready to implement the Uyghur Act on June 21 and that we have the resources and that we're going to take the approach of addressing any shipments coming from that region," she said. "So the question is, are we ready to implement? Yes, we are. June 21." Muneton and others spoke June 1 during the first of three CBP webinars about the UFLPA (see 2205250021).
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Just three weeks before the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act will go into effect, many important questions remain unanswered, said Richard Mojica, a former CBP headquarters attorney now with Miller & Chevalier.