The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday announced the expansion of the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to “combat the exploitation and abuse of the Uyghur people.”
The DHS added five entities from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), bringing the total number of entries to 73, according to an official press release.
The UFLPA entity list includes companies involved in sourcing raw materials or producing final products in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). According to the press statement, the latest entities added to the UFLPA list are Century Sunshine Group Holdings Ltd., Kashgar Construction Engineering (Group) Co., Ltd., Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings Ltd., Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper Co., Ltd. (also known as Ashele Copper), and Xinjiang Tengxiang Magnesium Products Co., Ltd.
The DHS press statement noted that starting August 9 this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply a rebuttable presumption that goods produced by these companies will be prohibited from entering the United States.
This list reflects the DHS’s commitment to eradicating forced labor and holding the PRC accountable for ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in the XUAR.
“As DHS identifies more entities across different sectors that use or facilitate forced labor, we act to keep their tainted goods out of our nation’s supply chains. Today’s announcement strengthens our enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and helps responsible companies conduct due diligence so that, together, we can keep the products of forced labor out of our country. We will continue to implement this law with full force in our efforts to combat the exploitation and abuse of the Uyghur people and other persecuted groups and protect a free and fair market,” said Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, according to the DHS press statement.
The decision against these entities will also involve the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Justice, Labor, State, and Treasury, which are members of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF).
The UFLPA Entity List includes companies active in sectors such as apparel, agriculture, polysilicon, plastics, chemicals, batteries, household appliances, electronics, and food additives. The DHS press statement also mentioned that identifying these additional entities provides U.S. importers with more information to conduct due diligence and examine their supply chains for risks of forced labor to ensure compliance with the UFLPA.
Additionally, Robert Silvers, the DHS Under-Secretary for Policy and chairman of FLETF, stated, “We have shown again through today’s enforcement actions that the United States is committed to keeping goods made with forced labor out of U.S. supply chains. Companies must conduct due diligence and know where their products are coming from. The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force will continue to designate entities in a variety of sectors that meet the criteria for inclusion on the UFLPA Entity List, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue its vigilant enforcement at our ports.”
The press statement also quoted FLETF, which noted that they had reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable information, that two of the recently added companies are involved in working with the government of the XUAR to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, or receive forced labor of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups from the XUAR.
(With ANI Inputs)
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