CBP sent a questionnaire earlier this month to solar companies asking how they're guarding against the use of forced labor in their supply chains. The agency asked about the origins of solar modules, panels and related products, according to a draft of the survey obtained by Bloomberg. CBP wants invoices and other documents from distributors, wholesalers, exporters and resellers, as well as organizational charts and locations of production facilities.

CBP plans in FY 2024 to test the ability of ACE 2.0 to issue credentials, verify the origin of the credentials, and send data to partner government agencies through "tech demos" focused on e-commerce, food safety and natural gas trade using "global interoperability standards," the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee said. The COAC, in an ACE 2.0 Working Group issue paper on Feb. 26, said that in September CBP successfully tested global verifiable credentials and decentralized identifier standards with demos of steel and pipeline oil trade (see 2309130025).

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Feb. 23, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.

CBP posted the following documents ahead of the March 6 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. EST:

Seafood processed by North Korean guest workers in China is finding its way into U.S. supply chains, despite U.S. laws that presume all goods made by North Korean nationals are made with forced labor, according to a report by the Outlaw Ocean Project published Feb. 25 in The New Yorker. Relying on government documents, social media, local news reports and local investigators, the journalism non-profit said it found 15 seafood processing plants that used over 1,000 North Korean laborers since 2017, 10 of which shipped seafood to over 70 U.S. importers. Chinese companies identified in the report as using North Korean labor include Dalian Haiqing Food, Dandong Galicia Seafood, Dandong Omeca Food, Dandong Taifeng Foodstuff, Dandong Yuanyi Refined Seafoods, Donggang Haimeng Foodstuff and Donggang Xinxin Foodstuff.

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's (COAC) Broker Modernization Working Group will recommend that CBP unify the registration and "site selection process" for candidates applying for the customs brokers licensing exam. The goal would be to include "registration, site selection, payment, and other ancillary requirements," the working group said.

CBP announced an Enforce and Protect Act investigation saying there is reasonable suspicion that several companies evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on mattresses from China and Vietnam. The companies are Beanomy, IYEE Nature, Kelanch, Wakodo Household Supply, Xinshidian Trading, Zevoky, Kakaivy, Weekaly, Heniddy, Ryan James Engineering, Sunwind Trading and Anlowo. The agency said this finding made the enactment of interim measures necessary.

A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Feb. 22, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: