CBP Forced Labor Trade Enforcement

U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforces a statutory prohibition on importing goods made with forced labor, covering merchandise produced through convict labor, forced child labor, or indentured labor under penal sanction. This page explains how that authority operates, the mechanisms CBP uses to restrict or exclude shipments, the situations most likely to trigger enforcement, and the criteria that determine whether a detention, exclusion, or Withhold Release Order applies. The subject is central to understanding CBP's broader trade enforcement mission and carries direct legal consequences for importers across every sector.

Definition and scope

Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1307) prohibits the importation into the United States of goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by convict labor, forced labor, or indentured labor under penal sanction. The statute contains no de minimis threshold — any taint of forced labor anywhere in the supply chain is legally sufficient grounds for exclusion.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), signed into law in December 2021 (Public Law 117-78), created a rebuttable presumption that goods produced in whole or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China, or by entities on the UFLPA Entity List, are made with forced labor and are therefore inadmissible. This shifts the burden of proof from the government to the importer, who must demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that a shipment was not produced with forced labor.

CBP's scope covers all modes of entry — ocean, air, rail, and truck — and applies to finished goods, components, raw materials, and agricultural commodities. The CBP Office of Trade holds primary administrative authority over forced labor enforcement, working alongside the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) established under UFLPA.

How it works

Enforcement follows a layered process with distinct decision points:

1. Risk Identification — CBP analysts, acting on petitions from domestic industry, NGO submissions, Congressional referrals, or proprietary targeting intelligence, identify commodities and supply chains with forced labor risk indicators. The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system flags shipments against entity lists and commodity risk profiles at the time of entry filing.

2. Detention — When a shipment is flagged, CBP issues a detention notice, typically allowing 30 days for the importer to submit documentation. The importer bears the burden of producing supply chain traceability records, third-party audit reports, and other evidence.

3. Withhold Release Order (WRO) — A WRO is a prospective enforcement action naming a specific producer or region. Once published in the Federal Register, CBP officers at all ports detain shipments of covered merchandise. WROs do not expire automatically; they remain active until CBP revokes them based on documented remediation.

4. UFLPA Detention — Shipments implicating the XUAR or an UFLPA Entity List member are detained under the rebuttable presumption standard. The importer must demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, full supply chain transparency from raw material to finished good. CBP publishes operational guidance on accepted evidence in its UFLPA Operational Guidance for Importers.

5. Exclusion and Seizure — If the importer cannot rebut the presumption or meet the documentation standard, CBP excludes the merchandise. Re-exportation may be permitted; in cases involving deliberate misrepresentation, seizure and penalties under 19 U.S.C. § 1592 may follow.

Common scenarios

Three enforcement situations account for the majority of forced labor actions:

Solar panel supply chains — Polysilicon production in Xinjiang underlies a significant share of global solar module manufacturing. CBP has detained shipments from producers across multiple countries whose upstream polysilicon sourcing traced back to XUAR entities. As of the UFLPA Entity List's first year of operation, CBP had processed over $1 billion in detained shipments across solar, apparel, and electronics sectors (DHS FLETF Annual Report 2023).

Apparel and footwear — Cotton ginning, yarn spinning, and fabric production in Xinjiang have generated WROs against named producers. Importers relying on multi-tier supply chains in South and Southeast Asia frequently encounter detentions when Tier 2 or Tier 3 suppliers source XUAR-origin cotton.

Agriculture and seafood — Fishing vessels using forced or trafficked labor, particularly in Southeast Asian distant-water fleets, have been the subject of WROs targeting specific vessel operators and processing facilities. CBP coordinates with NOAA and the Department of Labor on vessel-level evidence gathering in these cases.

Decision boundaries

CBP distinguishes between two parallel enforcement tracks, and importers must understand which standard applies to their shipment:

The UFLPA standard is stricter. An importer facing a UFLPA detention cannot satisfy the burden through a general corporate audit — CBP requires transaction-specific documentation: purchase orders, payment records, production records, and input sourcing logs traceable to the raw material level.

Goods that are neither XUAR-linked nor covered by an active WRO may still be detained under § 1307 if CBP develops reasonable suspicion through targeting. In those cases, the standard reverts to the traditional preponderance framework, and CBP must support the detention with articulable evidence rather than a statutory presumption.

Appeals from exclusion decisions proceed through the protest mechanism under 19 U.S.C. § 1514, reviewed by CBP's administrative appeals process. UFLPA exclusions that are not resolved at the port level may be referred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters for final determination. For a broader overview of how forced labor enforcement fits within CBP's mandate, see the CBP authority homepage.