Suzanne Kane and Chiara Klaui were named partners at Akin Gump, the law firm said in an emailed Jan. 3 news release. Kane's “work includes advising clients on mitigating the impact of the administration’s trade policies, particularly tariffs; representing clients in Customs and Border Protection enforcement actions, audits and internal investigations; counseling clients on intellectual property rights and forced labor compliance; and helping clients devise compliance programs.” the firm said. Klaui “is the go-to lawyer for clients seeking counsel on European Union (EU) export controls and trade sanctions and their interaction with, in particular, U.S. trade regulations.” Kane is based in Washington, while Klaui is in the firm's London office.
A CBP proposed rulemaking on “Merchandise Produced by Convict or Forced Labor or Indentured Labor Under Penal Sanctions" was received by the Office of Management and Budget Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Nov. 20, according to an OIRA notice. "The proposed amendments would generally bring the forced labor regulations and detention procedures into alignment with other statutes, regulations and procedures that apply to the enforcement of restrictions against other types of prohibited merchandise," according to the CBP description. CBP is aiming to issue the proposal in January.
The Treasury Department published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for CBP. The agenda includes a new rulemaking that would amend CBP's regulations to get rid of the “onerous and inefficient paper-based bond application and approval processes," it said. The agency will try to issue a proposed rulemaking rule by March next year, it said. "Moving forward, the proposed amendments would implement the successful National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test for electronic bonds ('eBonds')," it said. "The proposed amendments would require all bonds to be filed by the sureties using an electronic data interchange (EDI) or e-mail."
Members of Congress who are the Congressional-Executive Commission on China members asked the acting CBP commissioner to issue more withhold release orders for textiles or other goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang province, where about a million Uighur Muslims are held in internment camps. The senators and representatives noted that CBP did block the imports of Heitan Taida Apparel Company, and said that sent an important message, but much more should be done.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 4-8 in case they were missed.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Dec. 4, beginning at 1 p.m., in Washington, CBP said in a notice.
NEW YORK -- While CBP recently issued multiple withhold release orders for goods the agency believes were produced with forced labor (see 1910010017 and 1902040017 and 1805210028), ICE is also working to increased enforcement of forced labor laws. The enforcement effort is not going to stop with civil penalties, warned Kenneth Kennedy, senior policy advisor for forced labor programs at the Homeland Security Investigations division at ICE. "We are teeing up criminal investigations within the next year, or two years," he said, and U.S. business officials will the targets.
CBP issued a new withhold release order on tobacco from Malawi and products containing tobacco from Malawi on Nov. 1, the agency said in a news release. "The products will be detained at all U.S. ports of entry," it said. "CBP issued the WRO based on information collected by the agency that reasonably indicates the tobacco from Malawi is produced using forced labor and forced child labor."
CBP should allow for seizures of goods from the Xinjiang region of China if there are certain "red flags" that indicate the use of forced labor, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in an Oct. 16 report. The use of red flags is necessary "due to a lack of meaningful access to Xinjiang and the level of surveillance and repression there that render audits and other traditional fact-finding impossible," CSIS said. The report was released ahead of an Oct. 17 Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing on the use of forced labor by Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities detained in internment camps.
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