Things have been a bit quiet on the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevent Action (UFLPA) front recently, but that may change soon enough. The Wall Street Journal wrote that “CBP is upgrading several of its labs, adding equipment and know-how that enable the agency to look into the atomic composition of materials for clues about their origin”:
“CBP plans to use the new equipment at its Savannah lab to help identify whether any imported garments are made with cotton produced in Xinjiang… By extracting what is known as an isotopic fingerprint, CBP’s scientists can compare the results with a database of fingerprints from around the world to help determine the origin of the cotton.”
CBP’s use of the analytical method could see a boost under the Trump administration:
“Origin testing also plays a role in enforcing tariffs. Testing for an item’s place of origin can help CBP enforce antidumping rules or determine whether importers are trying to pay a lower duty by shipping the item through another country.”
This technology isn’t new, nor is CBP’s use of it as we wrote in 2022. Even prior to then, similar attempts at using chemical fingerprinting (to identify the geologic source/location of minerals) arose in response to the US Conflict Minerals rule, mainly led by the German government. That wasn’t widely adopted primarily because there was no agreement about who would cover costs for the analytical work. In addition, the legal framework and consequences for conflict minerals are much less stringent than those under UFLPA, making it difficult to justify those costs.
Testing used (and paid for) by CBP, combined with UFLPA’s more prescriptive requirements for “clear and convincing evidence” to rebut a presumption of guilt – with an importation ban on products where importers don’t adequately rebut the presumption – may change the calculus. This could devalue current supply chain due diligence practices, at least for products subject to UFLPA.
Increased implementation of lab data has several implications. Among them:
- Social audits and documented traceability schemes will be put to an empirical test as never before.
- It will severely limit the ability for anyone to dodge questions about material origins (such as this).
Members can learn more about supply chain audits and traceability here.
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