The New CBP Forced Labor Portal: What Importers Need to Know Right Now
If you’re importing goods into the United States, there’s a new system you need to know about—and it’s not optional.
As of January 21, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection requires all importers to use the newly launched Forced Labor Portal for specific review requests. If your shipment gets detained or excluded under forced labor enforcement, you’ll need to navigate this system to resolve the issue.
Here’s what changed, what it means for your operations, and how to prepare.
What Is the Forced Labor Portal?
The Forced Labor Portal is CBP’s centralized platform for submitting review requests when shipments are detained or excluded due to forced labor concerns. Before this portal, the process was more fragmented. Now, everything goes through one system.
The portal directs your submission to the appropriate CBP personnel—whether that’s the Forced Labor Division, your Port of Entry, or a Center of Excellence and Expertise—depending on the type of review you’re requesting.
What’s Now Mandatory
Starting January 21, 2026, you must use the Forced Labor Portal to submit these four types of reviews:
1. Withhold Release Order/Finding Admissibility Reviews If your goods are subject to a Withhold Release Order (WRO) or a finding that prohibits their entry, you’ll submit your admissibility review through the portal.
2. UFLPA Applicability Reviews The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) creates a presumption that goods from Xinjiang or made with Xinjiang materials were produced with forced labor. If your shipment is detained under this presumption, your review request goes through the portal.
3. UFLPA Exception Requests In limited circumstances, importers can request an exception to UFLPA enforcement. These requests now require portal submission.
4. CAATSA Exception Requests The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act can affect certain shipments. Exception requests for CAATSA-related detentions also go through the new system.
Why This Matters for Your Supply Chain
If you source from regions or industries flagged for forced labor concerns—textiles, agricultural products, electronics, solar materials, certain minerals—you need to understand this system before you need it.
Detention isn’t just inconvenient. It means your goods sit at the port while you scramble to prove compliance. Storage fees accumulate. Production schedules slip. Customer commitments become harder to meet.
Having a plan before detention happens makes all the difference. That means knowing:
- How to access the portal
- What documentation CBP expects
- How to structure your review request
- What your response timeline looks like
Getting Started with the Portal
CBP has made the portal available at https://flportal.cbp.gov/s/login/
They’ve also released supporting resources:
- A quick reference guide walking you through the submission process
- An instructional video demonstrating how to submit requests
- A recorded webinar (available soon) for more detailed guidance
All of these resources are available on CBP’s forced labor webpage at www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor.
If you have questions about the portal itself, CBP has set up a dedicated email: ForcedLabor@cbp.dhs.gov.
What You Should Do Now
Even if you’ve never had a shipment detained, understanding this system is smart risk management. Consider these steps:
Review your supply chain exposure. Do you source from regions or industries with heightened forced labor scrutiny? Understanding your risk profile helps you prepare.
Familiarize yourself with the portal. Don’t wait until you’re under pressure from a detention to learn the system. Review the quick reference guide and watch the instructional video now.
Document your due diligence. If you do face a detention, your ability to demonstrate supply chain transparency and compliance efforts will be critical. Make sure your documentation is organized and accessible.
Talk to your customs broker. Your broker should understand this new requirement and be prepared to help if a detention occurs. Make sure they’re informed and ready.
The Bigger Picture
This portal launch is part of CBP’s broader forced labor enforcement effort. The agency isn’t backing away from these requirements—they’re building infrastructure to manage them more efficiently.
For importers, that means forced labor compliance isn’t a one-time checkbox. It’s an ongoing operational consideration that requires visibility into your supply chain, strong documentation practices, and the ability to respond quickly when issues arise.
The companies that handle this well are the ones who treat it as a supply chain management issue, not just a compliance problem. They know their suppliers. They verify their sources. They maintain documentation that demonstrates due diligence.
Questions to Consider
As you think about how this affects your operations, here are a few questions worth discussing with your team:
- Do we have complete visibility into our supply chain, including subcontractors and raw material sources?
- Have we conducted forced labor risk assessments for our key suppliers?
- Do we have documentation that demonstrates our due diligence efforts?
- Does our team know how to access and use the new portal if needed?
- Have we briefed our customs broker on this new requirement?
Moving Forward
The launch of the Forced Labor Portal represents CBP’s commitment to more structured, centralized enforcement. For importers, it’s a reminder that forced labor compliance requires proactive attention.
If you’re navigating these requirements and need guidance on supply chain compliance, documentation, or customs procedures, that’s exactly the kind of challenge Future Forwarding helps clients solve. We stay current on regulatory changes so you can focus on running your business.