The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee on Sept. 27 will hold a 10 a.m. hearing on enforcement of U.S. trade laws, focusing specifically on CBP enforcement, optimizing the flow of legitimate trade and implementing the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, the subcommittee said (here). “Enforcing obligations in U.S. trade agreements, U.S. intellectual property rights, and antidumping and countervailing duty laws while streamlining legitimate trade prevents our competitors from gaining an unfair advantage,” subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., said in a statement. “Our new law requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection to modernize its systems, facilitate compliant trade, and intensify enforcement against cheaters to help American workers compete in the global marketplace. We will hold Customs accountable for this important work.” CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske last week said the hearing would touch on CBP's policy toward imports of child and forced labor goods (see 1609130052).
CBP recently issued a new withhold release order due to suspicions of goods made by forced labor, said CBP's list of such orders (here). The Sept. 16 order applies to "Peeled Garlic" made by "Hongchang Fruits & Vegetable Products Co., Ltd." The order follows the recent elimination of an exemption to a ban on imported goods made by forced labor (see 1602260049).
CBP posted a single-page fact sheet on supply chain due diligence for importers to help avoid involvement with goods made by forced labor (here). "To combat the risks of child and forced labor in your operations and global supply chains, you should have a comprehensive and transparent social compliance system in place," CBP said. Among resources listed by CBP are the Labor Department's guidance on setting up a social compliance system (here), CBP rulings and the use of supply chain audits. Importers also may "obtain advice from a customs expert," CBP said. "For example, a licensed customs broker, customs/international trade attorney, or customs consultant." The agency is in the process of writing regulations following the customs reauthorization law's forced labor provisions that repealed the "consumptive demand" considerations (see 1606170040), which is causing some industry anxiety (see 1605170017).
CBP’s import scanning should provide more benefits for Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) participants and remain risk-based, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said Sept. 13. “C-TPAT does need some additional work,” he said during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference in Washington. “If you’re a C-TPAT member and you’re valued and you’ve reached those top tiers, we need to enhance the benefits very much there.” Kerlikowske indicated that a risk-based scanning approach would dovetail with providing greater trusted trader benefits, and that such a method would be more realistic and efficient than a congressional mandate requiring all incoming U.S. cargo to be scanned via X-ray, which can be extended every two years with lawmakers’ approval. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson last notified Congress of such an extension in May (see 1605310028).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
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CBP posted its agenda (here) and some other agency documents for the upcoming Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting on July 27 in Boston. Among the posted items are recommendations for coming antidumping/countervailing duties evasions enforcement regulations from the COAC AD/CVD Working Group (here). That working group will recommend new CBP rules requiring customs brokers to report possible AD/CVD evasion, among other things, it said. The new enforcement regulations are a result of the customs reauthorization law's AD/CVD provisions, known as the ENFORCE Act, that take effect Aug. 22 (see 1602230080).
CBP will create a Forced Labor Working Group within CBP’s Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), a CBP spokeswoman said by email on July 19. "This COAC Working Group comprises members from retail, seafood, and other key industries, along with experts in global human rights and supply chain integrity, and will enable CBP to more effectively and fairly enforce this important law," she said. The working group will help to improve communications between the agency and industry related to the end of the "consumptive demand" loophole for imports suspected of being made through forced labor, she said. The agency is "working with industry, civil society organizations, and others to rigorously enforce the law and prevent the import of goods made with forced, convict, or child labor into the United States," the spokeswoman said. "Key to this effort is ensuring that industry and civil society alike are clear on their obligations under the law, CBP’s standards for allegations and appeals, and how to ensure integrity in the global labor and supply chain." Lawmakers recently pushed CBP to revise its regulations on investigating forced labor imports (see 1607150042). The COAC next meets July 27 (see 1607080003).
CBP should revise its regulations to be able to initiate its own forced-labor goods investigations with help from the Department of Labor, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a July 14 letter to CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske (here). The annually "published List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor provides a useful starting point for CBP to identify targets for self-initiated investigation, and we urge you to consult closely with DOL on your enforcement efforts," Wyden and Brown said. CBP previously said it would use DOL forced labor information for its research, but that the DOL uses different standards for its reviews (see 1604220017).
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