Forced labor enforcement remains a top trade priority for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In June 2026, CBP issued its Forced Labor Enforcement Operational Guidance for Importers, consolidating its enforcement authorities and providing importers with a single reference for understanding how CBP investigates, detains, excludes, and seizes merchandise suspected of being made with forced labor.
While all importers are subject to CBP’s forced labor requirements, additional expectations apply to companies participating in the CTPAT Security and CTPAT Trade Compliance programs. We break it down for each type of importer.
CBP Forced Labor Requirements for All Importers
CBP enforces several authorities designed to prevent goods produced with forced labor from entering the United States:
- 19 U.S.C. § 1307, which prohibits the importation of merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor. This is enforced by CBP via:
- Withhold Release Orders (WROs), which allow CBP to detain goods when information reasonably indicates they may have been produced with forced labor.
- Findings, which are formal determinations that goods are produced with forced labor and are therefore prohibited from entering U.S. commerce.
- The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which establishes a rebuttable presumption that goods produced, in whole or in part, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, or entities identified under the UFLPA, are made with forced labor and therefore prohibited from entry unless the importer overcomes the presumption.
- The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which targets goods produced in Iran, Russia and North Korea.
In addition, under 19 U.S.C. § 1484, importers are required to exercise “reasonable care” by providing CBP with accurate and complete information about goods. This includes ensuring that the information submitted to CBP supports compliance with all applicable forced labor laws and import restrictions. As the CBP’s guidance notes:
“Importers must proactively identify, assess, and mitigate risks in their supply chains, particularly for goods subject to active WROs and Findings, originating from high-risk regions like the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and which use North Korean labor under CAATSA.”
Requirements for CTPAT Members
Since 2023, forced labor prevention requirements have been incorporated into the CTPAT Security program’s Minimum Security Criteria (MSC).
MSC 3.9, which applies to all CTPAT entity types including importers, states that:
“CTPAT Members must have a documented social compliance program in place that, at a minimum, addresses how the company ensures goods imported into the United States were not mined, produced or manufactured, wholly or in part, with prohibited forms of labor, i.e., forced, imprisoned, indentured, or indentured child labor.”
CTPAT’s implementation guidance for MSC 3.9 defines a social compliance program– a set of policies and practices through which a company seeks to ensure maximum adherence to the elements of its code of conduct that cover social and labor issues. More detailed guidance was issued in July 2026 in a CTPAT bulletin on stopping forced labor in supply chains.
Requirements for CTPAT Trade Compliance Members
CTPAT Trade Compliance is a component of the CTPAT program framework that is only eligible to importers and that has more prescriptive forced labor requirements for its members.
The program requires members to implement a formal forced labor compliance framework that includes:
- Supply Chain Mapping: Members should conduct risk-based mapping of their supply chains to identify suppliers, regions, and operations that may present elevated forced labor risks.
- Risk Assessment: Importers should evaluate supply chain vulnerabilities and establish procedures to identify potential forced labor concerns.
- Code of Conduct: Members should maintain policies prohibiting forced labor and communicate those requirements throughout the supply chain.
- Training and Awareness: Companies should provide appropriate training to employees and relevant supply chain partners regarding forced labor risks and reporting mechanisms.
- Evidence of Implementation: CTPAT Trade Compliance members must be able to demonstrate that their programs are functioning through documentation, assessments, corrective actions, and other supporting records.
- Remediation Procedures: Members should maintain processes for investigating and correcting identified forced labor concerns.
As CTPAT Trade Compliance members must maintain a Tier II or Tier III partnership in the CTPAT Security program, the additional Trade Compliance requirements do not necessarily entail establishment of new procedures but rather ensuring that the procedures in place incorporate forced labor concerns.
Like every importer, CTPAT Trade Compliance members remain subject to detention, exclusion, seizure, and other enforcement actions under UFLPA, WRO, Finding, and CAATSA authorities.
However, CBP has identified several benefits available to Trade Compliance members when responding to forced labor enforcement actions, including:
- Priority review of forced labor admissibility packages
- Authorization to move certain detained shipments to bonded facilities
- Enhanced engagement with CBP regarding forced labor compliance matters
These benefits do not eliminate the requirement to prove admissibility. A Trade Compliance member whose goods are detained must still provide sufficient evidence to satisfy CBP’s requirements under the applicable enforcement authority.
Key Takeaways
CBP’s guidance makes it clear that the agency expects importers to maintain visibility into their supply chains and to take measures to prevent forced labor in their supply chains. What remains less clear is exactly what constitutes sufficient “reasonable care.”
CTPAT Members must provide evidence of implementation of a social compliance program as part of their annual Security Profile submission, which is reviewed by CBP. CTPAT Members also have the ability to engage with their Supply Chain Security Specialist (SCSS) for further information.
CTPAT Trade Compliance members have more clarity, as they must have forced labor prevention policies and procedures in place. This is evaluated by their National Account Manager, who is also a resource Tade Compliance members are able to consult on forced labor prevention.
However, as CBP’s Informed Compliance Publication on reasonable care states, “the facts and circumstances surrounding every import transaction differ – from the experience of the importer to the nature of the imported articles. Consequently, neither CBP nor the importing community can develop a foolproof reasonable care checklist which would cover every import transaction.”
Ultimately, many importers do not learn whether their forced labor controls satisfy CBP’s reasonable care standard until they become the subject of an enforcement action. Organizations that invest in supply chain transparency, documentation, and due diligence before a detention occurs will be far better positioned to respond effectively.
