Forced Labor Compliance Tools Announced as Section 301 Probes Continue

The Department of Labor recently announced the launch of the following tools to help U.S. companies evaluate labor practices, map supply chain risks, and take concrete steps to ensure alignment with U.S. laws banning imports made with forced labor.

– LaborShield: a mobile app that features information on labor violations in over 145 countries

– ImportWatch: a resource that brings together the DOL’s labor abuse research with U.S. import data from the Census Bureau to produce a red flag list of all high-risk goods for U.S. importers

– SourcingStrong: a tool to help U.S. businesses build strong labor due diligence systems to identify and manage risk in their supply chains

– Supply Chain Traceability Portal: helps businesses map supply chains across multiple tiers and trace raw materials back to their sources to better detect likely risks

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg also offers a comprehensive suite of services to help companies address forced labor concerns, including supply chain reviews, due diligence strategies, and proactive remediation. This includes a web page offering a broad range of information on forced labor-related efforts in the U.S. and around the world. For more information, please contact STR at supplychainvisibility@strtrade.com.

In the meantime, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is conducting Section 301 investigations of the alleged failure of 60 trading partners to impose and effectively enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor. These investigations are expected to be used as part of an effort to reimpose broad import tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.