CRS Says Stakeholders Say WRO Evidentiary Standards Unclear
The Congressional Research Service, in an updated report last week on the ban on goods made with forced labor in the Trade Act of 1930, highlighted how the U.S. has used negotiations in free trade agreements to try to expand the bans on goods made with forced labor.
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The report said stakeholders say the evidence needed to convince the forced labor division to create a new withhold release order, as well as the evidence needed to show a WRO should not apply to a particular shipment, is unclear.
"Additionally, per a U.S. Government Accountability Office report in 2020, CBP cited staff shortages as leading to some dropped investigations and limited ability to monitor cases," the report said.
The analysts also noted that there are conflicting pressures on how to implement the ban on importing goods with forced labor.
Some members of Congress and human rights activists "have advocated for more industry and region/country-wide prohibitions of certain goods. H.R. 6909, for example, would restrict imports of goods containing cobalt refined in China under the presumption ... that the cobalt is extracted/processed with child and forced labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
However, the analysis also said that some trade groups warn that a broad ban may "disrupt supply chains, deter legitimate business, and worsen the economic security of vulnerable workers."