The UFLPA for battery and mineral importers

How the presumption works

Since June 21, 2022, US Customs and Border Protection has applied a rebuttable presumption that goods "mined, produced, or manufactured" wholly or in part in Xinjiang, or by entities on the UFLPA Entity List, are made with forced labor and so are barred under 19 U.S.C. 1307 (CBP). To have goods released, the importer must answer CBP's questions fully and show, by clear and convincing evidence, that the goods were not made with forced labor (DHS FAQ).

The test reaches inputs, not just the finished product. A battery assembled outside China can be detained if a material in it traces back to Xinjiang or to a listed company.

The Entity List

DHS publishes the list on its UFLPA Entity List page and in the appendices of Federal Register notices. On July 31, 2026 DHS announced 43 additions, which it called its largest single expansion, bringing the list to 187 entities (DHS release). The presumption applies to the new names from August 3, 2026. On October 14, 2026 the list page still showed its July 31 update as the latest.

Some entities appear on more than one of the list's sub-lists, so counting rows gives a higher number than 187. Search the list for your suppliers and for their suppliers by name, and check again after every update; we do not reproduce it here because it changes.

Priority sectors

DHS names twelve high-priority sectors for enforcement: aluminum, apparel, caustic soda, copper, cotton and cotton products, lithium, PVC, red dates (jujubes), seafood, silica-based products (including polysilicon), steel, and tomatoes and downstream products. Caustic soda, copper, jujubes, lithium and steel were added on August 19, 2025.

For a battery importer, lithium is the direct exposure: lithium chemicals sit near the start of the cathode supply chain. Aluminum and copper go into cell casings, current collectors and busbars, and both are priority sectors too.

It stacks with the other tests

• Duties: clearing UFLPA does not reduce the duty. A lithium-ion battery from China still pays the Section 301 and forced-labor tariff layers: see tariffs on lithium-ion batteries from China. The 12.5% Section 301 forced-labor tariff is charged on goods from 60 economies regardless of how they were made; the UFLPA looks at how and where specific goods were made.
• Tax credits: entities on the list required by the UFLPA (Public Law 117-78) are among the "specified foreign entities" in the 2025 tax-credit rules, so a supplier on it is a prohibited foreign entity whatever its ownership. See battery storage tax credits and Chinese-owned suppliers.
• Europe: the EU's Forced Labour Regulation applies from December 14, 2027, but it has no regional presumption; the authority has to build the case. See EU rules for imports from China.

What to have ready before a detention

1. A map of the supply chain for each product, down to the raw materials in the priority sectors, with each supplier's name and location.
2. Documents that tie a shipment to that map: purchase orders, invoices, production and transport records for each tier, so a specific entry can be traced, not just the product in general.
3. Screening records showing each supplier was checked against the Entity List, and when.
4. Supplier commitments to provide this evidence on request, written into the purchase contract, since the importer carries the burden of proof and will need the supplier's records to meet it.

CBP publishes operational guidance for importers on its UFLPA pages, including the kinds of evidence it reviews. Read it before a shipment is held, not after.

Sources: CBP UFLPA page; DHS UFLPA FAQ and Entity List; DHS release of July 31, 2026 and Federal Register document 2026-15628 (August 3, 2026). Last checked October 14, 2026. General information, not legal or customs advice.