Worker rights advocates, from non-governmental organizations and the AFL-CIO, say that the company-by-company withhold release orders on goods from Xinjiang are not enough to prevent goods made with forced labor from entering the U.S., while the head of a major apparel trade group said targeted enforcement is the only way to follow the evidence. They were all witnesses at a House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee hearing on enforcing the ban on the importation of goods made with forced labor from the Xinjiang region in China.
Four companies and an “training center” in the Xinjiang region of China will be subject to withhold release orders, CBP said Sept. 14. Despite some expectations otherwise, the new WROs don't apply to Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which would have amounted to a more “regional” approach by the agency. CBP is still looking at broader restrictions on cotton, textile and tomato products from the region under a WRO, but is undertaking further “legal analysis” on the issue, Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kenneth Cuccinelli said during a call with reporters.
Four companies and a “training center” in the Xinjiang region of China will be subject to withhold release orders, CBP said Sept. 14. Despite some expectations otherwise (see 2009090053), the new WROs don't apply to Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which would have amounted to a more “regional” approach by the agency. CBP is still looking at broader restrictions on cotton, textile and tomato products from the region under a WRO, but is undertaking further “legal analysis” on the issue, Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kenneth Cuccinelli said during a call with reporters.
The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing via videoconference at noon on Sept. 17 on “Enforcing the Ban on Imports Produced by Forced Labor in Xinjiang.” An announcement from the administration on the topic is reported to be coming (see 2009090053).
The flurry of forced labor investigations and withhold release orders from CBP in recent years is starting to have an impact in countries with reported violations, in particular in Malaysia, Sarah Bessell, deputy director of Washington, D.C.-based The Human Trafficking Legal Center, said during an online panel discussion at CBP’s Virtual Trade Week on Sept. 9.
CBP is seeing an uptick in companies pulling out of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, Manuel Garza, CBP director of CTPAT in the Office of Field Operations, said. “Because of COVID, we have seen an increase in the number of companies that have withdrawn from the program,” he said. The program still has about 11,400 total members and 315 trade compliance members, he said while speaking at a CBP Virtual Trade Week session Sept. 9. Some 53.4% of U.S. imports by value are CTPAT-certified, according to a CBP presentation.
Coming withhold release orders on goods from China (see 2009080049) will cover “the entire supply chains for cotton, from yarn to textiles and apparel, as well as tomatoes, tomato paste and other regional exports,” said Brenda Smith, CBP’s executive assistant commissioner in the Office of Trade. She told Reuters in an interview that “we have reasonable, but not conclusive, evidence that there is a risk of forced labor in supply chains related to cotton textiles and tomatoes coming out of Xinjiang.” Plans to announce the WROs were delayed due to “scheduling issues,” CBP told Reuters. CBP didn't comment to International Trade Today.
A maker of disposable gloves in Malaysia submitted an independent auditor's report in order to prove there is no forced labor in its supply chain, the company said in a news release. Gloves manufactured by Top Glove are subject to a withhold release order issued in July (see 2007150032). “The report was developed following the completion of verification work performed on its labour practices by the independent consultant, which entailed virtual interviews of about 1,100 of the company’s migrant and local workers across various locations,” it said. Active engagement by Top Glove with CBP “is ongoing and Top Glove looks forward to an expeditious upliftment of the Withhold Release Order,” it said.
CBP may issue a withhold release order aimed at cotton goods from the Xinjiang region of China, according to a report in The New York Times. The report follows a recent request from human rights groups for a broad ban on all cotton goods from the region (see 2009010059). The precise breadth of such an order isn't clear, the report said. There is growing administration scrutiny of the use of forced labor in the region, and other recent actions foreshadowed more enforcement on the import side (see 2008250018). Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that CBP is looking at WROs on goods from six specific companies -- “three that operate in the cotton, textile and apparel industries, one in computer parts and two in hair products.” Among the mentioned companies are the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and the Xinjiang Junggar Cotton and Linen Co., it said. CBP didn't comment.
CBP should block imports of “all cotton-made goods linked to the Xinjiang region of China based on evidence of widespread forced labor,” human rights groups said in a recent news release. The coalition, which includes the AFL-CIO, the Uyghur Human Rights Project and the Human Trafficking Legal Center, filed a petition with the agency Aug. 28 to request a withhold release order on such products. “Industry groups have repeatedly requested clear guidance from the US government and a regional WRO would provide it,” the coalition said.