U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is expected to deploy the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) regional alert and postal code requirement this Friday, March 18, 2023.
According to CBP, the goal of the new measures is to provide an early notification to importers and their representatives that goods may have been produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and are possibly at risk for exclusion under the UFLPA law.
The new validations will be part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and will require importers to report a valid postal code for cargo releases when the manufacturer’s country of origin is China. Once the postal code is reported, users may receive an error message if the reported code is not a valid Chinese code, or a warning message when an XUAR code is provided.
To aid importers in complying with the new requirement, CBP has published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document which provides guidance on how to submit the manufacturer information and how to navigate warning and error messages.
There will also be a post-deployment support call where CBP will provide a brief status update and answer any questions from the trade community. The call will be hosted by the Trade Transformation Office (TTO) on March 21, 2023 at 3 pm Eastern.
Importers should review CBP’s FAQ and the Trade User Information Notice on the UFLPA region alert to understand the new requirement and prevent cargo release from being rejected due to error or missing information.
For those requiring assistance concerning this new requirement or navigating the UFLPA, please reach out to Husch Blackwell’s International Trade and Supply Chain team.