As of June 2022, the United States implemented the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (Public Law No. 117-78), known as the UFLPA, which prohibits the importation into the United States of goods that have been manufactured in whole or in part with forced labor in the People’s Republic of China and especially in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Xinjiang (XUAR).
The UFLPA has had a significant impact on the global supply chain for textile and apparel products, considering that this region of China produces 20% of the world’s cotton.
CBP (Customs and Border Protection) is the entity responsible for preventing the entry of products manufactured with forced labor into the U.S. market by investigating and acting on allegations of forced labor in supply chains. That is why, during the 3 years of UFLPA implementation, CBP has published a dashboard that provides statistics on shipments subject to UFLPA reviews and enforcement actions.
As of July 10 of this year, CBP has detained 9,128 shipments suspected of containing goods manufactured in whole or in part under forced labor conditions, the most relevant sectors.
- Electronics: 4,573 shipments
- Apparel, Textiles and Footwear: 1,661 shipments
- Industrial and manufacturing materials: 1,228 shipments
In particular, detained shipments in the apparel, textile and footwear sector total more than US$69.75 billion and of the total 1,661 shipments, 982 have already been denied, shipments released and 279 pending shipments.
The following is a detail of shipments in the textile, apparel and footwear sector:
Stopped shipments by country of origin
Data in number of shipments
Own elaboration with data from https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/trade/uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act-statistics
According to the article published by Just Style last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) added 26 Chinese textile companies to the list of entities that mine, produce or manufacture all or part of goods, wares, articles and merchandise with forced labor.
For a complete list please visit the following link: https://www.dhs.gov/uflpa-entity-list
It is important for Guatemalan apparel and textile companies exporting to the United States to familiarize themselves with the UFLPA, ensure their supply chain, know their suppliers and be certain that inputs not originating in the CAFTA-DR region have not been produced either partially or totally under conditions of forced labor.
