By Tenzin Chokyi

DHARAMSALA, 4 August: The United States has added 43 Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, marking the largest single expansion of the blacklist since the law was enacted in 2021. The move brings the total number of listed entities to 187. The restrictions took effect on 3 August.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the additions on 31 July, saying the companies were designated because they either source materials from the so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) or participate in government labour transfer programmes involving Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other persecuted groups from the region.

Under the UFLPA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) applies a “rebuttable presumption” that goods produced wholly or in part by listed entities are made with forced labor and are therefore barred from entering the United States unless...