Federal government efforts to aggressively enforce prohibitions on imports of goods made with forced labor continued recently with the issuance of a new withhold release order and the addition of three more textile companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List.
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg has a robust program to assist companies on forced labor issues. ST&R also maintains a frequently updated 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 ST&R at supplychainvisibility@strtrade.com.
WRO
Effective Nov. 1 U.S. Customs and Border Protection will detain at all U.S. ports of entry frankincense and frankincense-based products sourced from supplier Asli Maydi in Somalia, based on information reasonably indicating the use of forced labor in the production of such goods. CBP states that the affected products are commonly used in essential oils for fragrance and skincare.
Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said this action illustrates that the agency “will continue to pursue aggressive enforcement actions to hold unscrupulous businesses, importers, and manufacturers around the world accountable.”
According to CBP, importers of detained shipments may contest the detention pursuant to 19 CFR 12.43 and have three months to provide admissibility documentation or dispose of affected goods pursuant to 19 CFR 12.44.
CBP states that this action brings to 52 the number of WROs the agency is enforcing, along with eight findings, under 19 USC 1307, which prohibits imports of goods made wholly or in part with forced labor, including convict labor.
UFLPA
The Department of Homeland Security has added three textile companies based in China to the UFLPA Entity List because it has reasonable cause to believe they are sourcing cotton from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Effective Nov. 1, goods produced by these entities are prohibited from entering the U.S.
A DHS press release states that this action demonstrates the administration’s commitment to “focus on entities in high priority sectors for enforcement under the UFLPA Strategy, including the apparel and cotton and cotton products sectors,” and to “aggressively enforce” the UFLPA.
The UFLPA establishes a rebuttable presumption that goods made wholly or in part in the XUAR are made with forced labor and are therefore excluded from entry into the U.S. CBP applies this presumption to goods mined, produced, or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List, which are thus prohibited from importation into the U.S. under 19 USC 1307. There are now 78 companies on this list, including those active in the apparel, agriculture, polysilicon, plastics, chemicals, batteries, household appliances, electronics, seafood, and textile sectors, among others.
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