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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A Senate Finance Committee investigation into forced labor in imported autos' supply chains said that BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, after being notified by Lear Corporation that LAN transformers were made by a company on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, continued to export cars with those parts, or the parts themselves, into the U.S.
The automotive industry's inadequate due diligence controls for Uyghur forced labor make it complicit in the abuse, the Senate Finance Committee charged in a report that criticizes three customers of a firm on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list -- Volkswagen, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover.
DHS is adding 26 Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List because they allegedly source cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, it said in a notice released May 16. The companies, which are cotton traders and warehouse facilities, will be added to the list effective upon the notice's scheduled May 17 publication in the Federal Register. Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation.
With the addition of 26 firms that source cotton from Xinijang, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's Entity List now has 36 textile firms -- more than half of the list.
Customs lawyer John Foote, speaking at the Washington International Trade Association during a panel on import bans, investments and export controls, questioned whether the Biden administration is ready to coordinate forced labor import bans with allies, given how the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is still in its infancy.
Shein, an apparel e-commerce platform that has been in the crosshairs of the House Select Committee on China (see 2305030077) U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (see 2304140034), is ramping up its staffing for compliance, according to a memo sent to International Trade Today by a person close to Shein.