CBP sent out a reminder that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Region Alert will go live in ACE on March 18. “As a reminder, Chinese postal codes must be six-digits in length, otherwise, filers will receive a fatal reject when an entry is filed or when a new Manufacturer’s Identification Number (MID) is created or an existing MID is updated,” it said in a March 16 CSMS message. A post-deployment call is scheduled for March 21 at 3 p.m.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP identified 481 shipments valued at more than $109 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor in February 2023, including goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and withhold release orders, the agency said in its most recent operational update. That's higher by both number and value than January's total of 282 shipments worth more than $69 million (see 2302100070). CBP also seized 1,590 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $182.4 million in February, and completed 22 audits that identified $6.5 million in duties and fees owed to the U.S. government for goods that had been improperly declared, the agency said.
CBP has received a third "exception request" under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act seeking to rebut the presumption that goods with content from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor, CBP officials said at a press conference March 14. The agency is still working through all three requests received so far by the agency, the officials said. CBP announced it had received the first two in January (see 2301270078).
Importers need to look beyond the products specifically identified under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to any products with raw materials processed in China, as the country moves more and more production to the Xinjiang province, said Laura Murphy, a professor at Sheffield Hallam University, speaking at CBP's Forced Labor Technical Expo on March 15.
The State Department is encouraging importers to join legally binding agreements with labor unions that include mechanisms for workers and employers to ensure labor standards are being met and resolve labor disputes, preventing forced labor indicators in the supply chain, a State Department official said at a CBP event on forced labor on March 14.
Shipments of electronics comprised half the number and nearly 90% of the value of all shipments stopped under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act since enforcement began in the third quarter of 2022, according to data released by CBP as part of its UFLPA “Dashboard,” which debuted March 14. The bulk of those shipments were of solar products, CBP officials said at a press conference that day.
CBP released a new frequently asked questions document on the upcoming Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Region Alert in ACE, set for deployment on March 18 (see 2212210041). Once it's in effect, “if no postal code is transmitted when it is flagged by the system as a required field, the record will remain in reject status and will not be accepted in the Cargo Release system,” CBP said in the FAQ. If an incorrect postal code is submitted, filers may transmit a replacement “R” or “C” record prior to the shipment’s arrival, the agency said. Importers should enter the street-level, rather than the city-level postal code, unless there is no postal code available for the specific street, CBP said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP's Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will next meet March 29 in Seattle, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 24.