---
title: CBP Asked About Your Chinese Factory | China Agent
description: CBP asked about your Chinese factory. What China-side evidence to gather for your broker or counsel — and what not to invent.
image: https://www.china-agent.com/hubfs/palletized-cartons-ready-for-container-loading-china.jpg
---

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# CBP asked about your Chinese factory. What do you send?

![Shrink-wrapped pallets of cartons staged beside a trailer before container loading in China](https://www.china-agent.com/hubfs/palletized-cartons-ready-for-container-loading-china.jpg)

- September 24, 2026

![Eldad Shashua](https://www.china-agent.com/hubfs/Eldad%20Shashua.jpeg)

[Eldad Shashua](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/author/eldad-shashua)

Someone wants Chinese factory information. Your first job is not to invent a clean story. Your first job is to gather what already exists on the China side, name what is missing, and hand an organized pack to the people who file and advise.

Your licensed broker and, when the stakes call for it, US customs counsel decide what goes into the response and how it is filed. China Agent verifies, collects, translates support, and organizes the China-side file. We do not file entries. We do not give US customs legal advice. We do not get anyone through CBP. Confirm every current requirement with your broker or counsel.

I see the scramble every week. The letter or the broker email lands. The buyer opens WeChat. English PDFs from last year sit in one folder. The Chinese licenses, the payment proofs, the production papers that would actually answer the ask — those are still in factory cabinets and unread threads. Storage and bond risk sit on the importer number while people rewrite a story that should have been collected during production.

## Stop scrambling. Start with roles.

Three roles get mixed up every time this happens:

1. **You (importer of record)** — carry reasonable care under [19 U.S.C. § 1484](https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=\(title:19%20section:1484%20edition:prelim)). You certify. The commercial decision sits with you.
2. **Your licensed broker / counsel** — own the entry response, CF-28 answers, detention packages, and legal strategy. They decide what CBP sees and how it is framed.
3. **China Agent** — China-side docs and verification for the supplier or factory you already have. Named entity. Addresses. Payment match. Production and visit records when they exist. Gaps left visible.

If a vendor promises “we clear CBP” or “we stop detention,” walk away. CBP’s own [Reasonable Care](https://www.cbp.gov/document/publications/reasonable-care) materials put the duty on the importer. Supporting evidence helps your process. It is not a release stamp.

## What “Chinese factory information” usually means

The ask can arrive as a CF-28 request for information, a detention notice, a broker checklist, a retailer audit, or an internal escalation after someone read a forced-labor FAQ. The exact form matters for counsel. The China-side homework looks similar.

CBP’s June 2026 [Forced Labor Enforcement Operational Guidance for Importers](https://www.cbp.gov/document/guidance/cbp-forced-labor-enforcement-operational-guidance-importers) and its [UFLPA enforcement FAQs](https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/faqs-uflpa-enforcement) keep pointing at ordinary-course business records: who made and moved each step, how money and goods changed hands, and how those pieces map to the finished shipment — with English translations when needed.

I translate that for a buyer who already has a Chinese supplier into a practical evidence pack. This is not a customs legal checklist. It is the China-side pile your broker or counsel can actually use.

### 1. Party and role map

- Chinese legal name of the seller (from the business license), Unified Social Credit Code, registered address, legal representative, status
- Operating / factory address if different from the registered address
- Plain statement of role: manufacturer, trader, packer, exporter — and how parties relate
- If the invoice party is a trader: the named manufacturing factory, with its own license identity when you have it

English storefront names and Alibaba shop titles do not replace Chinese legal names.

### 2. Transaction records for this shipment (or this SKU run)

- Purchase orders / contracts with chop
- Commercial invoices
- Packing lists
- Specs or work orders that match the goods on the water
- Change orders if anything shifted mid-run

Dated. Matching the goods. Not a generic brochure PDF from last year.

### 3. Payment identity

- PI / wire instructions
- Bank remittance proofs showing who was paid
- A clear note if the beneficiary name matches — or does not match — the licensed entity on the contract

A PI without a matching payee trail is a story with a hole in it. Put the hole on the page. Do not paper over it with a new PDF written after the ask arrived.

### 4. Physical movement

- Bills of lading, waybills, booking docs
- Warehouse or transfer notes when inputs or finished goods moved between named entities
- Packing or export paperwork that shows who handled the box

Financial proof alone is thin when the question is where manufacture and material physically sat.

### 5. Production / capacity / visit trail (when you have it)

- Production photos with dates
- Capacity or production records the factory already generates
- Visit notes: who went, when, where, who sat down, what was seen, what was refused
- Certificates you actually verified against the product — not a folder of unopened PDFs

If nobody has ever stood in the building, say that. Inventing a visit after the letter arrives is worse than an honest gap.

### 6. Upstream / input layer (when product risk needs it)

Where forced-labor or origin risk sits on your product family, counsel will ask about key inputs. Ordinary-course invoices, contracts, and movement records for those inputs matter more than a one-line “not Xinjiang” email. CBP’s public materials treat incomplete chains harshly when a tier cannot produce production information. Confirm what your product needs with broker or counsel. Do not invent an upstream story you cannot support.

### 7. English and index

- English translations of the Chinese pages that matter
- A simple index: document → party → role → shipment link
- A one-page cover note for your broker: what you have, what is still open, who on the China side is chasing what

CBP’s [Best Practices for Applicability Reviews](https://www.cbp.gov/document/guidance/best-practices-applicability-reviews-importer-responsibilities) stress a complete, organized package. An unsorted WeChat dump burns the response window.

For a plain-English list of papers buyers get asked to produce from the factory side, see our live piece [10 things CBP will ask you to produce](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/10-things-cbp-will-ask-you-to-produce). For the UFLPA-shaped pack around those papers, see [UFLPA China documentation pack](https://www.china-agent.com/blog/uflpa-china-documentation-pack).

## What not to send (or invent)

**A fresh affidavit with no trail.** One signed letter that “we comply” and “we make everything in-house,” written after the ask, with no ordinary-course POs, invoices, payments, or production records behind it. Weak diet.

**Only the trading desk.** Polished English PDFs from the company that invoiced you, while the factory that cut, molded, or assembled the goods never appears with a license, address, or production record.

**Photos with no date, no address, no people named.** Pretty floors that could be anyone’s. A visit note needs who, when, where.

**A rewritten PI that suddenly matches the license after the wire already went to a different name.** Fix forward with counsel. Do not fake the past.

**Anything you cannot defend if CBP or counsel asks how you got it.** Reasonable care is a process you can describe. It is not a collage.

## How to work the China side while the broker works the entry

1. **Forward the ask to counsel/broker the same day.** Do not freelance a CBP reply from WhatsApp.
2. **Pull what already exists.** License scans, PIs, payment proofs, packing lists, BOLs, WeChat threads that name addresses and promises, any prior visit reports.
3. **Name the gaps out loud.** Missing manufacturer identity. Missing upstream. Missing English. Missing proof the payee matches the license. Yellow is still a file.
4. **Chase China for ordinary-course papers, not for a new marketing pack.** Ask for the records the factory already generates for this order. Dated. Chopped. Matching the goods.
5. **Organize for the people who file.** Index. Roles. Translations. Cover note. Then stop inventing.
6. **Decide the commercial question separately.** If a supplier will not produce production information for a tier you need, that is a supplier decision for you — with counsel’s advice on the entry risk. CBP’s June 2026 guidance discusses incomplete packages bluntly. Confirm your situation with counsel.

China Agent’s job in this window is the China chase and the China organization. We introduce ourselves as working for you. We sit with the people who can decide. We write what we got and what was refused. Your broker still files. You still certify.

## Build the file before the next letter

The expensive version of this article is the one written while the ask is already on your desk. The cheap version is built while production happens.

That is what [Monthly Support](https://www.china-agent.com/monthly-support-packages) is for: China Supplier Control for US importers who already have suppliers. Not sourcing. Our team reads what the factory sends in Chinese, follows up on missing documents, watches entity and payee drift, keeps the China-side record current across orders, and walks into the supplier when the plan calls for a visit. Visibility starts from $995 a month plus setup, for up to three suppliers.

If you need someone in that city full-time on your instructions — deeper floor presence, samples, ongoing local collection of the papers the pack needs — see [Employee in China](https://www.china-agent.com/employee-in-china). Different door. Monthly Support is our people on your existing suppliers. Employee is your person, employed properly under Chinese law through our subsidiaries, working only for you.

If the entity itself is still unclear and money has not moved (or should not move again yet), start paper-first with a [$95 Supplier Reality Check](https://www.china-agent.com/supplier-reality-check). If you are already under an active CBP ask, [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/8615322086875) or [book a call](https://www.china-agent.com/booking?hsLang=en) with the supplier names, the SKU, the broker ask, and whatever China papers you already hold. We will tell you what the China side can and cannot support in time. We do not get anyone through CBP.

Confirm current US customs requirements with your counsel or broker. We do not give US customs legal advice. We do not file entries.

---

## FAQ

**Q: CBP asked for Chinese factory information. What do I send?**

A: An organized China-side pack of ordinary-course records — party/role map with Chinese legal names, transaction papers for the shipment, payment proofs that match the payee story, physical movement records, and any dated production or visit trail you already have — with English translations and an index for your broker or counsel. They decide what gets filed. Do not invent papers. Confirm the exact response with counsel.

**Q: Can China Agent reply to CBP for me?**

A: We verify, collect, translate support, and organize the China-side file. Your licensed broker handles filing. You remain the importer of record. We do not file entries, do not certify admissibility, and do not give US customs legal advice.

**Q: Is a supplier “we make everything in-house” letter enough?**

A: Usually no. CBP’s forced-labor and reasonable-care materials emphasize ordinary-course transaction, payment, and movement records. A letter can support. It does not replace the spine.

**Q: What if my supplier is a trader, not the factory?**

A: Buying from a trader is legal. Pretending the trading desk is the manufacturer is how files die. Put the trader on the file and name the manufacturing factory. Chase papers for both when the ask needs manufacture and input identity.

**Q: Will this pack get my goods released?**

A: Nobody honest can promise that. Evidence supports your process and gives broker/counsel something real to work with. Release and admissibility decisions sit with CBP. Confirm strategy with counsel.

**Q: How does Monthly Support help if I am not under a letter yet?**

A: It keeps the China-side trail growing while orders move — so the next ask is not a WeChat scramble. One-time dumps go stale. Monthly eyes watch entity/payee drift and chase missing documents before the clock starts.

---

 

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