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U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

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DHS Announces New High Priority Sectors for UFLPA Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) released an update to the Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in the People’s Republic of China.

Strategy Background

DHS released the first publication of the UFLPA Strategy in June 2022. The strategy outlines a multi-pronged approach to combating forced labor in global supply chains.The strategy includes a comprehensive assessment of the risk of importing goods with forced labor in the PRC, high priority sectors for enforcement, guidance to importers, recommendations to accurately identify affected goods, and more. DHS released the first update to the publication in August of 2023.

The Latest Update  

The update builds on two years of the Administration’s enforcement of the UFLPA. The latest strategy identified new high priority sectors for enforcement – aluminum, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and seafood. These industries were identified due to higher risk of forced labor or state labor transfer of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Entities in these sectors will now be prioritized for review for enforcement actions such as inclusion on the UFLPA Entity List, sanctions, export limitations, and visa restrictions.

Other products previously identified as high priority such as apparel, cotton and cotton products, silica-based products including polysilicon, and tomatoes remain high priority sectors.

The latest updates also outline how the FLETF has significantly advanced their objectives through several initiatives, such as strong enforcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); expansion of the UFLPA Entity List; […]

By |2024-07-11T10:48:09-04:00July 11, 2024|China, Forced Labor, Import, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments
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CBP Publishes Additional Guidance On Responding to Cargo Detentions Made Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

Background

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”) went into effect on June 21, 2022. The law creates a rebuttable presumption that imports of all goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (“Xinjiang”), or by entities identified on the UFLPA Entity List, were made using forced labor and are prohibited from entry into the U.S. under 19 U.S.C. § 1307. For more information about the UFLPA, please see our previous blog articles here and here. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) has been vigorously enforcing this law, detaining hundreds of attempted import shipments every month under both the UFLPA and Withhold Release Orders for suspected forced labor violations.

Importers that have a shipment detained under the UFLPA can seek to have the shipment released under one of two paths. They can either:

  • show that in spite of the fact that the goods were produced wholly or partially in Xinjiang or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List, they were not in fact made using forced labor; or
  • show that neither the goods nor the inputs used to make the goods were produced wholly or partially in Xinjiang and have no connection to entities on the UFLPA Entity List (i.e., that the goods fall outside the scope of the UFLPA).

Taking the second path means requesting an “admissibility review.”

Last year, pursuant to the UFLPA, the Department of Homeland Security published a Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, […]

By |2023-03-09T20:18:51-05:00March 9, 2023|China, Import, International Trade, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)|0 Comments
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Customs and Trade Law Weekly Snapshot

Here is a recap of the latest customs and international trade law news:

 

 

 

 

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By |2023-01-30T00:19:08-05:00January 27, 2023|Best Practices, Export, Import, International Trade, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)|0 Comments
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Customs and Trade Law Weekly Snapshot

Here is a recap of the latest customs and international trade law news:

 

 

 

 

[…]

By |2022-12-25T23:13:46-05:00November 4, 2022|ACE, AD/CVD, China, International Law, International Trade, Mexico, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), U.S. Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)|0 Comments
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Customs Undervaluation- It’s a Crime

Customs Valuation is a procedure to determine the customs value of imported goods. The customs value is essential to calculate the total duty to be paid on an imported good. As part of its agreement with the World Trade Organization (“WTO”), the U.S. is part of an internationally standardized system of valuing imports. This standardized system allows for CBP to protect revenue, ensure reasonable care from importers, and accurately calculate Census trade statistics. Accordingly, it is critical to declare the value of importations accurately and compliantly. 

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) valuation methodology (as well as a summary of relevant Customs rulings) are described in detail in the Valuation Encyclopedia (i.e., the best resource on valuation inquiries). CBP permits merchandise to be valued according to one of the six valuation methods listed below. The methods are applied sequentially from first to last until an applicable value is determined. If the first method does not apply, the importer must then evaluate the second, and so on, until an appropriate method applies. The only exception to this sequential evaluation requirement is when evaluating between deductive value and computed value – an importer may choose to use the computed value before the deductive value.

Methods of Valuation:

  1. The transaction value of imported merchandise (the majority of imports use transaction value – i.e., the price paid or payable plus assists (see below))
  2. The transaction value of identical merchandise
  3. The transaction value of similar merchandise
  4. Deductive value
  5. Computed […]
By |2022-09-29T11:30:41-04:00October 4, 2022|Best Practices, Counterfeits, Import, International Law, International Trade, U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)|0 Comments
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