On August 8, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced via a Federal Register notice that effective immediately, five Chinese entities have been added to the UFLPA Entity List. These entities have been determined by DHS to be either: (i) working with the government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of the XUAR, or (ii) sourcing material from the XUAR. They operate in the following industry sectors: magnesium fertilizer/alloy products; construction and engineering; and mining nonferrous materials. See DHS press release for more details on these companies.
As a result of their listing on the UFLPA Entity List, goods produced by these entities will be presumed to be made by forced labor and subject to detention under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas stated that “[a]s 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.” With these additions, there are now 73 entities on the UFLPA Entity List.
For general background information on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), see Thompson Hine’s International Trade Update of June 2022.