The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”) (Public Law No. 117-78) is a U.S. law that directs the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to develop a strategy for supporting enforcement of the prohibition on the importation of goods into the United States manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor in the People’s Republic of China, especially from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Xinjiang.
Enacted on December 23, 2021, with a June 21, 2022 effective date, the UFLPA creates a rebuttable presumption that any goods that were “mined, produced, or manufactured, wholly or in part, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” were made using forced labor, and bars their importation into the U.S. under the 1930 Tariff Act, unless the importer can produce documentation within 30 days that meets the “clear and convincing evidence” standard in order to qualify for an exception.
The Act empowers the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to investigate allegations of forced labor in supply chains. If imports are found to violate the UFLPA, the materials and parts are seized at the border and the organization that benefited from forced labor is publicly exposed.