DHS has added three more companies to the list of companies cited for using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), according to a notice.
Forced Labor
CBP is the primary U.S. agency tasked with combating forced labor in international trade. It is the only agency with legal authority to take enforcement action and prevent entry into domestic commerce of goods produced with forced labor. CBP combats forced labor by issuing Withhold Release Orders (WROs) and Findings, and enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), and Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Goods subject to WROs and Findings, UFLPA, and CAATSA status cannot be entered at any ports of the U.S.
Customs broker Seko Logistics asked the Court of International Trade on June 7 for expedited briefing in its suit against CBP's suspension of the company from Type 86 filing and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. Seko said greater delay in the case "deprives the requested relief of much of its value" and sets "extraordinary hardship" on the broker (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).
A bipartisan pair in the Senate is in the early stages of writing a trade facilitation bill, which is intended to build on CBP's 21st Century Customs Framework -- an approach that trade professionals felt was too focused on enforcement, and neglected trade facilitation.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet June 26 remotely and in person in Long Beach, California, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due by June 21.
Contradictory language in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act -- which says the government may list entities that source items from Xinjiang, but says that the rebuttable presumption only applies to goods "produced by an entity on a list" -- may result in more litigation over the entity list, trade mavens say.
Sen. Marco Rubio, co-author of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, along with the leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Select Committee on China, have provided detailed supply chain maps for lithium-ion battery makers CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.) and Gotion High Tech, linking them to companies that transfer Uyghur workers and companies that mine minerals or make aluminum in Xinjiang.
CBP's Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said the agency "has suspended multiple customs brokers from participating in the Entry Type 86 Test after determining that their entries posed an unacceptable compliance risk," and that it will continue to take action against those who "abdicate their customs compliance responsibilities." The statement also said: “Any broker that has been suspended will be considered for reinstatement if it demonstrates to CBP that it has developed and implemented a remedial action plan."
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The Council of the European Union last week officially adopted new EU-wide supply chain due diligence rules that will require certain companies to conduct specific due diligence on their supply chains, including to root out forced labor.
A Kelley Drye attorney, who used to be part of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force due to his role at the U.S. Trade Representative's Office of Labor Affairs, said the recent 26 additions to the FLETF's Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list are significant because they are not companies directly employing Uyghurs harvesting cotton or in fabric mills or cut and sew operations.