DHS Adds 43 Chinese Companies to the UFLPA Entity List, Import Ban Starts August 3

The Department of Homeland Security added 43 Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List effective August 3, 2026, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection now applies a rebuttable presumption that anything those companies mine, produce, or manufacture is made with forced labor and barred from entering the United States.

The additions appear in a Federal Register notice from DHS acting as chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), document 2026-15628, published at 91 FR 48913. The notice supersedes the version of the list published on January 15, 2025 at 90 FR 3899. With this update the Entity List holds 187 entities, which DHS describes as a 30% increase and the single largest expansion since the list was created in June 2022.

The 43 names split across two of the four statutory sub-lists. Four companies go onto the section 2(d)(2)(B)(ii) list, which covers entities working with the Xinjiang government to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, or receive Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups out of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Forty-one go onto the section 2(d)(2)(B)(v) list, which covers facilities and entities that source material from Xinjiang or from parties tied to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps under a government labor scheme. Two companies, Xinjiang Nuziline Bio-Pharmaceutical and Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture, appear on both sub-lists, which is why 4 plus 41 still equals 43 unique names.

No entity was removed. DHS also issued two technical corrections for name changes: Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material Technology now reads Xinjiang Goens Energy Technology Co., Ltd., and Xinjiang Tianmian Foundation Textile now reads Kuitun Yadasi Textile Co., Ltd. Both keep their original sub-lists, so a screening file carrying only the old names will miss two active designations.

At the border the practical effect is immediate. Under section 3 of the UFLPA and 19 U.S.C. 1307, CBP does not have to prove forced labor. It detains the shipment, and the importer of record carries the burden of proving otherwise. There is no de minimis threshold, so a trace amount of listed-entity input can support detention of an entire container.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the announcement that “DHS will ensure their products do not enter our country.” DHS also stated that since the UFLPA took effect it has denied entry to more than 24,300 shipments under the authority, with a value it put at nearly $1 billion.

The 43 companies added on August 3

The table below reproduces every company named in the August 3 notice, with the sector the FLETF assigned it. Aliases and former names matter here, because CBP screens against those too.

How the rebuttable presumption works at the border

The presumption is a burden-shifting rule. Once a company is on the Entity List, CBP treats its goods as forced-labor goods without further proof, and the shipment is detained at the port of entry under 19 U.S.C. 1307. The importer of record, not the foreign supplier, is the party that has to respond.

Two paths exist. An applicability review shows the goods sit outside the UFLPA entirely, with no listed entity and no Xinjiang input anywhere in the chain. A formal exception requires clear and convincing evidence that the goods were not produced with forced labor, full compliance with FLETF strategy guidance, and complete answers to every CBP question. Importers generally have 30 days from presentation of the merchandise to assemble that record.

Exceptions are rare by design. When CBP grants one, it must report the merchandise and the evidence it considered to Congress and make that report public. The usual outcome for a detained shipment is exclusion, re-export, or destruction.

Sectors that just got harder to source

DHS named aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, and tomatoes and their downstream products as the high-priority sectors represented in this round. The underlying notice goes wider than that headline.

• Aluminum and carbon: Tianshan Aluminum Group plus seven named subsidiaries, covering aluminum foil, battery foil, prebaked anode carbon, and aluminum alloy.
• Pharmaceuticals: nine listings, including four tied to conjugated estrogen products made from pregnant mare urine sourced in Xinjiang.
• Food and agriculture: sugar beet, tomato paste, salmon, frozen dumplings, nuts, seeds, and fruit.
• Metals and minerals: gold from the Jinshan Gold Mine, copper and molybdenum, titanium sponge, potash, and lithium carbonate from the Lop Nur salt lakebed.
• Electronics inputs: high-purity aluminum and chemical foil used in aluminum electrolytic capacitors.

Capacitor foil and battery anode material will surprise the most buyers, because both sit several tiers below the finished product and rarely appear on a commercial invoice.

A Xinjiang address is no longer the test

At least 18 of the 43 new entities are based outside Xinjiang, in Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Fujian, Anhui, Hunan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Guangxi. They were listed for what they buy, not where they sit. Chacha Food in Anhui was listed for sourcing red dates, seeds, and nuts from Xinjiang, and the notice records that its products reach nearly 50 countries.

That geography breaks the most common shortcut in supplier screening, which is filtering vendor addresses for the Xinjiang region. A supplier in coastal Jiangsu with no Xinjiang facility can still be a listed entity, and goods routed through a third country do not shed the designation. The rebuttable presumption follows the input, not the last port of shipment.

Where this lands on top of existing tariff costs

An Entity List designation is not a duty. It is a prohibition. A tariff raises the landed price of goods that still clear customs; a UFLPA detention means the goods may never clear at all, and the importer absorbs demurrage, storage, and the cost of re-export or destruction on top of the lost sale.

Companies that shifted sourcing to dodge duty exposure should check whether the new vendor now sits on this list. Firms that moved cotton or apparel orders after the 20% tariff on Vietnamese goods or restructured around the 50% tariff on Indian goods taking effect August 27 may have picked up Chinese sub-tier inputs in the process. Duty engineering and forced-labor compliance are separate exercises, and clearing one does not clear the other.

The rule also reaches small shipments. Entity List goods are prohibited regardless of value, so the low-value channels people use for parcels and gifts offer no shelter. That is a different mechanism from the duty-side changes covered when new tariff rules began applying duties to gifts and when readers asked whether personal packages face tariffs. For a parcel holding a listed entity’s product the result is seizure, not a bill.

What importers should do this week

The window between publication and the first detentions is short, because the effective date and the publication date are the same. Practical steps, in order:

1. Re-run supplier screening against all 187 entities, including every alias and former name printed in the notice, not just the 43 new headline names.
2. Add the two corrected names, Xinjiang Goens Energy Technology and Kuitun Yadasi Textile, to the screening file alongside their former names.
3. Map tier two and tier three inputs for aluminum foil, cotton, tomato paste, gold, titanium, lithium, and capacitor materials, since the listings sit below the finished-goods level.
4. Pull purchase orders in transit now. Goods already on the water are still subject to the presumption when they arrive on or after August 3.
5. Assemble traceability documentation before a detention, not after. The 30-day clock starts when the merchandise is presented, and reconstructing a chain from scratch inside that window rarely works.

Listed companies have their own route. Any entity may send a removal request to the FLETF chair with supporting information and may request a meeting after filing it, with member agencies deciding by majority vote. The decision cannot be appealed, though the FLETF will look at a new request backed by new information.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many companies are on the UFLPA Entity List now?

187 entities as of August 3, 2026. The Federal Register notice at 91 FR 48913 added 43 Chinese companies and supersedes the version published on January 15, 2025 at 90 FR 3899. DHS called the update a 30% increase and the single largest expansion of the list since it was created in June 2022.

When did the 43 new UFLPA entity listings take effect?

August 3, 2026, the same day the Federal Register notice published. There is no phase-in period. Goods already in transit are covered if they arrive on or after that date, so shipments loaded before the announcement can still be detained on arrival.

What does the rebuttable presumption mean for my shipment?

CBP presumes goods produced by a listed entity are made with forced labor and prohibited under 19 U.S.C. 1307 without having to prove it. The shipment is detained and the importer of record carries the burden of response. There is no de minimis threshold, so a small traced input can hold an entire container.

How do I get a detained shipment released under the UFLPA?

There are two routes. An applicability review shows the goods fall outside the UFLPA entirely, with no listed entity and no Xinjiang input. A formal exception requires clear and convincing evidence the goods were not made with forced labor, plus full compliance with FLETF strategy guidance and complete answers to CBP. Importers generally have 30 days from presentation of the merchandise.

Which industries are affected by the August 2026 UFLPA additions?

DHS named aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, and tomatoes and downstream products as high-priority sectors. The notice also covers nine pharmaceutical listings, gold from the Jinshan Gold Mine, titanium, lithium carbonate from the Lop Nur salt lakebed, potash, coal, salmon, sugar beet, and aluminum foil used in electrolytic capacitors.

Are companies outside Xinjiang on the UFLPA Entity List?

Yes. At least 18 of the 43 new entities are based outside Xinjiang, in Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Fujian, Anhui, Hunan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Guangxi. They were listed for sourcing material from Xinjiang, not for their own location, so filtering supplier addresses for the region misses them.

Is a UFLPA listing the same as a tariff?

No. A tariff raises the landed cost of goods that still clear customs. A UFLPA listing is a prohibition, so the goods may never enter. The importer absorbs demurrage, storage, and the cost of re-export or destruction rather than paying a duty, and the ban applies regardless of shipment value.

Can a company be removed from the UFLPA Entity List?

Yes. Any listed entity may send a removal request with supporting information to the FLETF chair and may request a meeting after filing. Member agencies decide by majority vote. The decision is not appealable, though the FLETF will consider a new request that comes with new information. No entity was removed in the August 3, 2026 update.