Department of Homeland Security Updates Forced Labor Strategy for the People’s Republic of China
On July 9, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued its 2024 Updates to the Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) Report to Congress. This annual report is required under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”), enacted on December 23, 2021, which charges the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (“FLETF”), chaired by DHS, to provide annual updates on its UFLPA Strategy. This includes addressing the UFLPA Entity List,1the list of products associated with certain listed entities, plans for enforcement and for identifying additional entities, and high-priority sectors.
The Report highlights several updates, including:
- During 2024, as of the time of the Updates, the FLETF has named an additional 38 entities to its Entity List, for a total of 68 entities, demonstrating enhanced capabilities to expand the list as well as focus on entities that “egregiously and openly engage in behavior prohibited by the UFLPA.”
- FLETF’s addition of “new, high priority sectors of enforcement,” which include polyvinyl chloride, aluminum, and seafood. These additions were based on FLETF’s finding that “these industries involve a higher risk of forced labor of Uyghurs and members of other persecuted groups from the XUAR” and supplement the previously identified sectors by FLETF, which include apparel, cotton and cotton products, silica-based products (including polysilicon), and tomatoes and downstream products.
- DHS’s Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans (PLCY), which leads the administration and operational management of FLETF, identified additional resources necessary for the UFLPA’s mandate, including additional employees, translators, technology acquisitions, a database creation, and operations to provide support for outreach, subject matter expert contractors, and dedicated IT systems.
- FLETF’s continuous engagements with private sector NGOs, which included biannual meetings with the NGO community and the private sector “to solicit feedback and suggestions regarding the FLETF’s implementation of the UFLPA” as well as “engagement with like-minded international partners and multilateral organizations to support diplomatic strategies and engagements in purpose of a global response to eradicating goods made with forced labor.”
The Report also highlights FLETF’s initiation of reviews of potential candidates for the Entity List “that involve more complex relationships due to the lack of visibility into PRC supply chains, including entities that may meet requirements for inclusion under Section 2(d)(2)(B)(iv)” of the UFLPA. This section identifies entities that export products that are made, produced, or manufactured by entities that 1) are located in the XUAR that mine, produce, or manufacture wholly or in part any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise with forced labor or 2) work with the government of the XUAR to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, or receive forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of the XUAR.
Finally the Report notes that while removal from the Entity List may be initiated through a recommendation by a FLETF member agency or by a request from an entity named on the Entity List, to date, “no FLETF member agency has initiated a recommendation to remove an entity from the UFLPA Entity List.” FLETF is currently evaluating three removal requests formally submitted by entities on the Entity List.
Parties interested in UFLPA compliance should continue to monitor FLETF’s announcements and modifications to the UFLPA Entity List, especially given the heightened scrutiny on products sourced from the XUAR and the PRC more generally.
1 The UFLPA Entity List is available at https://www.dhs.gov/uflpa-entity-list.
