To further strengthen the prohibition against the importation of goods made with forced labour, from the 18th March 2023 US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) will require importers to report the China Postal Code of the company identified by the Manufacturer Identification Code (MID) for all shipments originating in China.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into effect on the 21st June 2022, establishing a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced, or manufactured, in whole or in part, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China (XUAR) or by any entity identified on the UFLPA Entity List were made with forced labour and are prohibited from entry into the United States.
The deployment of the new China Postal Code validation was originally scheduled for November but has been delayed and is now set for March 18, 2023.
The new validations will be formed when:
- The People’s Republic of China (CN) is selected as a manufacturer’s country of origin for entry
- CN is selected as a manufacturer’s country of origin when a Manufacturer Identification Code (MID) is created, or
- An existing MID with Country of Origin ‘CN’ is updated
The new validations will be:
- Postal code will be a required field
- Users will receive an error message if the postal code provided is not a valid Chinese postal code
- Users will receive a warning message when a Uyghur region postal code has been provided
If CBP detain goods under the Uyghur Act, importers have two options to respond:
- Provide information to prove that the import is fully outside the scope of the Uygur Act
- Request an exception to CBP’s rebuttable presumption if the imported items fall within the scope of the Uyghur Act
Our New Jersey office provides national Customs Brokerage across the United States, with same day clearance and delivery available at many entry points.
They can assist importers with Uyghur Act compliance, including guidance on conducting a supply chain audit, implementing due diligence and supply chain visibility.
If you would like to discover our customs services in the United States, or have any questions about UFLPA compliance, please Email our US team directly.
