A group of ocean conservation groups released a Seafood Slavery Risk Tool on Feb. 1 that is meant to help identify the use of forced labor within seafood supply chains. The tool, run by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, Liberty Asia and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, is "a risk indicator tool that provides knowledge and information based on professional assessments and perspectives from the fishing industry, civil society, and the anti-modern slavery community," the groups said in a blog post. The tool "will apply a consistent methodology, supported by a wide range of credible resources from local information to specific, published material and information from various due diligence technology organizations," the groups said. The risk tool is needed due to low levels of transparency in the global fishing industry, they said. CBP recently stopped some seafood shipments from China over forced labor concerns (see 1710060011).
The U.S. Council of International Business will "continue to oppose policies that handicap U.S. trade" in 2018, the USCIB said in its trade agenda. Among those policies are a "lack of clear standards at U.S. customs for forced labor," it said. The trade group will also "urge the Administration not to introduce new proposals in NAFTA that will weaken existing provisions or negate the benefits that U.S. companies derive from the U.S. being part of NAFTA," it said. USCIB will push for trade deals with the EU and Asian countries "to ensure that American goods and services companies have open and fair access to the markets in the Asia-Pacific."
CBP stopped additional shipments in recent months over the possible use of North Korean labor, a CBP spokesman said by email. CBP "has taken enforcement actions to prevent the North Korean goods from entering the U.S. supply chain on a number [15] of shipments involving manufacturing performed or suspected to be performed by the labor of North Korean nationals or citizens, which is prohibited under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (P.L. 115-44)," he said by email. Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan mentioned some holds on seafood shipments from China in October during a Senate hearing (see 1710240033)
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2017 in case they were missed.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 11-15 in case they were missed.
CBP’s adoption of new questions in its informed compliance publication on reasonable care sets the stage for increased enforcement on importers of recently amended provisions banning imports of goods produced with forced labor, customs lawyer Ted Murphy of Baker McKenzie said in a blog post. Importers that cannot answer the questions, which address an importer’s knowledge of its supply chain and procedures to check for forced labor (see 1711070046), “run the risk of having their goods detained or seized,” Murphy said.
ATLANTA -- On her last day working as acting Homeland Security secretary, Elaine Duke on Dec. 5 said her department is still looking for additional ACE funds, even as ACE modernization “is in the budget,” and emphasized the importance of advance data and closer monitoring of postal supply chains as opioid shipments to the U.S. have increased in recent years. During a keynote speech at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium, Duke acknowledged that ACE needs upgrading, adding that the Department of Homeland Security’s Joint Requirements Council is looking for ways to free up more money for ACE. That council is a “component-led body” designed to “identify, prioritize and recommend investments to address cross-department capability,” according to DHS.gov. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal year 2018 Homeland Security spending bill directs $38 million to support ACE core functionality and $5 million for ACE enhancements (see 1711240027).
CBP should require live entry for imports requiring antidumping and countervailing duty payments for importers that have unresolved non-payments of duties at the time of entry summary, or that haven’t paid an increased duty bill within 60 days of issuance, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee said in a recommendation approved at its Nov. 14 meeting in Washington. But the live entry for non-payment of duty increases should exempt importers with protest issues that can be filed within 180 days of duty of the rate advance, the COAC said. CBP should also establish and publish its policy for removing an importer from live entries after they rectify any payment problems, or demonstrate the importer wasn’t at fault for any late filing or payment in instances like technical or processing errors, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 6-9 in case they were missed.
CBP plans to launch a “proof of concept and/or pilot” in fiscal year 2018 on the potential applications of blockchain technology for trade, according to a document from the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Emerging Technologies Working Group. The agency is currently working with the trade community to develop “use cases” wherein blockchain could improve trade processes, and held an invitation-only blockchain workshop in October to discuss ideas. “There appears to be opportunity among the trade community to either track/validate goods in their supply chain to support due diligence or potentially to support verifiable claims to CBP for audit/compliance purposes,” the paper says.