If US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detains your shipment under the forced labor rules, the goods are presumed inadmissible until you prove otherwise, and the notice starts a 30-day clock. The proof is a supply chain paper trail that runs back to the raw material, not just a commercial invoice. This guide explains the legal machinery, what a detention looks like in practice, the documents that clear cargo, and what a forwarder or broker should ask for before a container sails. Figures are as of September 2026 and come from CBP and DHS publications.
Three tools, one statute
US forced labor enforcement is often described as "the UFLPA", but there are really three related tools, and a held shipment can fall under any of them.
Section 307 of the Tariff Act (19 U.S.C. 1307)
The base rule dates from 1930. It says goods mined, produced or manufactured, wholly or in part, in any foreign country by convict labor, forced labor or indentured labor under penal sanctions are not entitled to entry at any US port. The statute defines forced labor as all work or service exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance, and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily. Note the words "wholly or in part": a single tainted input can put a finished product in scope. The old "consumptive demand" exception, which let goods in when US production could not meet demand, was removed in 2016, so it no longer offers an argument.
Withhold Release Orders and Findings
Under 19 CFR 12.42 to 12.44, CBP acts on credible information about a specific product, producer or region. The two instruments differ by the strength of the evidence:
- Withhold Release Order (WRO): issued on reasonable suspicion. It directs ports to detain matching shipments. An importer has three months from importation to show the goods are admissible, and a failure to respond within that period means the goods are deemed excluded.
- Finding: issued on probable cause, with the approval of the Secretary of Homeland Security. Covered goods can be seized and put into forfeiture proceedings, and, unlike detained goods, cannot simply be exported.
CBP posts every active WRO and Finding on its forced labor page. The list changes, so check it for the product and producer you are buying from rather than relying on a memory of last year's list.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
The UFLPA (Public Law 117-78) created a rebuttable presumption, in force since 21 June 2022, that goods made wholly or in part in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List, are made with forced labor and barred from entry. "Rebuttable" is the operative word, but the standard for rebutting it is demanding: clear and convincing evidence, which is a higher bar than the ordinary "more likely than not". CBP's own FAQ puts the reach bluntly: goods made with any inputs from the XUAR are presumed to be made with forced labor.
The UFLPA Entity List in 2026
The Entity List is maintained by the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), chaired by DHS. Any good made by a listed entity is presumed prohibited, wherever in the world the final assembly happens. On 31 July 2026 DHS announced the addition of 43 companies, effective 3 August 2026, bringing the list to 187 entities, a 30 percent increase and the largest single expansion to date. DHS's announcement named aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, and tomatoes and downstream products among the priority areas. The same announcement said CBP had denied entry to more than 24,300 shipments, valued at nearly 1 billion US dollars, since the UFLPA took effect.
Treat the 187 figure as a snapshot: the list is published in the Federal Register and DHS updates it periodically. It is also not the whole risk. A supplier that is not listed can still have listed or Xinjiang-linked companies further upstream, and CBP screens for those inputs too. CBP's guidance also states that being excluded does not automatically put the supplier on the Entity List.
What CBP treats as high priority
CBP's June 2026 operational guidance for importers carries sector-specific tracing appendices for twelve UFLPA high-priority sectors:
| Sector group | Named in CBP's guidance |
|---|---|
| Metals and minerals | Aluminum, copper, steel, lithium, caustic soda |
| Textiles | Apparel, cotton and cotton products |
| Solar and chemicals | Silica-based products including polysilicon, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) |
| Food | Tomatoes and downstream products, seafood, red dates (jujubes) |
The practical reading: if your cargo contains any of these, or components made from them, assume your shipment is a candidate for screening. A "downstream product" such as a sauce made from tomato paste, or a garment made from cotton fabric, is in scope even when the finished item comes from a country other than China.
What a detention actually looks like
Detention and exclusion are different outcomes. When CBP has information that a shipment may contain a "potential input" from the XUAR or a listed entity, it detains the goods and issues a detention notice (CBP Form 6051D with an attachment). When CBP has information that a shipment does contain a "direct input", it excludes the goods outright. The detention notice tells the importer the date the goods were presented for examination, the reason, the anticipated length of the hold, and what to submit to rebut the presumption.
The clock and the options
- Days 0 to 30. The importer has 30 days to respond. The choices are to export or destroy the goods (at the importer's cost), to request an exception review, or to request an applicability review. To use the last two, email the contact on the notice before the 30 days expire and submit documents through CBP's Forced Labor Portal.
- Extensions. Extensions are discretionary and case by case. CBP's guidance allows a maximum of two, and together they should not exceed 90 calendar days from the date of the detention notice.
- No action. If the importer does nothing within the 30 days after the goods are presented for examination, the shipment is deemed excluded and CBP issues an exclusion notice.
- After exclusion. The importer can export or destroy the goods within 180 days, or file a protest under 19 U.S.C. 1514 in ACE, selecting the exclusion issue and the exception or applicability review as the secondary issue.
Two different kinds of review
| Applicability review | Exception review | |
|---|---|---|
| Your argument | The goods were not made in the XUAR or by a listed entity, so the presumption does not apply | The presumption does apply, but the goods were still not made with forced labor |
| Standard | Show the shipment contains no XUAR or listed-entity input | Clear and convincing evidence of no forced labor, full compliance with the UFLPA Strategy guidance, and complete answers to CBP requests |
| Handled by | The CBP Center of Excellence and Expertise for your industry | CBP's Forced Labor Division |
Most importers with a normal, non-Xinjiang supply chain go for the applicability review, because it asks a factual question that a good paper trail answers. An exception, if granted, also leads CBP to notify Congress within 30 days.
Costs that land on someone
The importer pays storage for the whole review period, and CBP can require a single-transaction bond at three times the value of the detained goods while the matter is resolved. That is why detentions are a cash-flow event as well as a delay: see our guide to US customs bonds for how bond amounts are normally set. Carrier demurrage and detention terms are set by the carrier's own tariff, so check whether a customs hold pauses them and agree in advance who bears any charges that accrue.
The documents that clear cargo
CBP's guidance lists what supports an applicability review. It is explicitly not a complete list, and the requirements vary with the facts. The core pattern is a tracing package that follows the goods from finished product back to raw material.
Overall supply chain
- A detailed description of the supply chain, including every stage of mining, production or manufacture, and the role of each entity (CBP needs to know, for example, whether a supplier is also the manufacturer).
- A list of suppliers for each production step, with names and contact details.
- Any relationships between the companies in the chain, as customs valuation rules define them.
- Affidavits from each company involved in production.
The merchandise and its components
- Purchase orders, invoices from all suppliers and sub-suppliers, packing lists and bills of materials.
- Certificates of origin and payment records.
- Seller and buyer inventory records, including warehouse and dock receipts.
- Shipping records such as manifests and bills of lading, and import and export records.
The producer
- Production orders and records that let CBP trace raw materials to the finished goods.
- Factory capacity reports, and site-visit reports by the importer, a downstream buyer or a third party.
- Evidence that the volume of inputs matches the volume of output. Inputs that do not add up to outputs are a classic reason a package fails.
- For forced labor rebuttals, audits should be unannounced and carried out by independent auditors who test against the International Labour Organization's 11 indicators of forced labor. CBP says it generally does not treat financial or environmental audits, or audits that do not look at those indicators, as sufficient.
For presentation, CBP asks for numbered exhibits with an index, searchable (OCR) PDFs, original-language documents with English translations, business confidential information marked in double brackets, and no duplicated files. A well-organised submission is easier to review, and review speed is the difference between a two-week and a three-month hold. CBP has said that for identical supply chains it has already cleared, detention has averaged ten to 14 days.
Isotopic testing of raw materials such as cotton is another form of evidence. CBP describes it as time-intensive, not viable for every product, and not instant, and encourages importers to build it into due diligence early rather than after a detention.
What a forwarder or broker should ask for
The legal duty falls on the importer of record, which is often not the forwarder. But forwarders and brokers are the ones who see the cargo, the documents and the booking, and they are the first to hear when a shipment is held. Sensible questions before a booking on a risk-exposed lane:
- Who is the importer of record, and do they know the product is in a priority sector? If the answer is a first-time importer of cotton garments or aluminum products from China, ask about their tracing file now.
- Can the shipper name the producer and the upstream suppliers? A trading company that cannot name the factory, let alone the mill or smelter, is a warning sign.
- Is any supplier on the Entity List? Screening names against the current list takes minutes and should happen at booking, not at the port.
- Is there a bond in place, and is it sized for a possible triple-value requirement? Confirm this with the customs broker.
- Who pays storage, demurrage and detention if the goods are held? Put it in writing. Our guide on brokers versus forwarders covers who does what at the filing stage.
- Is the customer a CTPAT Trade Compliance partner? CBP's guidance says such partners get their admissibility packages reviewed ahead of the line, may hold goods at their own facility pending a decision rather than redelivering them, and receive preliminary hold notification where possible.
Also be careful of what you say. A forwarder that files entries on a client's behalf and marks the origin, or supplier, incorrectly to avoid a hold creates a far bigger problem than the detention. Origin and supplier statements have to match the tracing file. If an importer finds forced-labor goods in a product already imported, CBP's guidance points to the prior disclosure and redelivery procedures, which is a conversation for a customs lawyer rather than a forwarder.
Common myths
- "Made in Vietnam, so it is safe." The presumption follows inputs, not the country on the label. A garment sewn elsewhere from Xinjiang cotton, or an item containing a component from a listed entity, is in scope.
- "My supplier gave me a certificate of origin." That is one document in a package, not the package. CBP's list runs from affidavits to production and payment records.
- "A detention means the goods are banned." A detention means the goods are held while the importer shows admissibility. The exclusion comes when that fails or when no one responds.
- "Only Chinese suppliers matter." Section 307 covers any foreign country, and CBP's WROs and Findings have named producers and products from other places. The UFLPA is China-specific, but it is only one of the three tools.
- "The Entity List is the whole risk." It is the automatic-presumption part. The XUAR link itself, at any tier, also triggers the presumption.
What to do next
- Check whether your product falls in one of the twelve priority sectors, or contains components that do.
- Build the tracing file before you ship, not after a detention notice. Start from the finished good and work back to raw material, and collect the documents above at each stage. If a supplier will not provide them, CBP's own guidance suggests finding a new one.
- Screen suppliers and their upstream sources against the current Entity List and the CBP WRO and Findings list at every new booking and on a regular schedule, since both change.
- Put the cost allocation for storage, bond and container charges into the contract or booking terms.
- If detained, read the notice, diarise the 30-day date, and contact the named CBP officer before it runs out. Get a customs broker or trade lawyer involved on day one.
- Keep records long enough to defend them. Our guides on customs audit readiness and the import documentation checklist cover the general record-keeping side, and importing from China to the USA covers the wider process for a first-time buyer.
Finding help on either side of the border
Forced labor holds are decided in US ports, but the evidence sits with suppliers abroad, so a forwarder or broker with real experience on your lane is worth having before the first booking. You can search the CargoLinked directory by country, city and service to find logistics companies, and check the credentials and experience of any company yourself before relying on it. If you would rather have forwarders come to you, post a freight request on the requests board and eligible forwarders can quote; each quote carries a validity date and expires after it.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Enforcement practice, the Entity List and the WRO and Findings list change often, and the figures above are as of September 2026. Confirm the current position with CBP, a licensed customs broker or a trade lawyer before relying on them for a specific shipment.
