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CBP, Trade Need Consensus to Get Through Short Window for 21CCF Customs Legislation, Ex-Staffer Says
With a short window for passing customs modernization legislation this year and uncertain prospects after that, it’s important that CBP and the trade community “stick the landing” of the 21st Century Customs Framework initiative and present a united front to Congress when a legislative proposal is submitted by CBP later this year, said John Drake, vice president-supply chain policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Sheffield University will be releasing a series of “evidence briefs” over the coming weeks on forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region and “how supply chains are changing in response to the crisis,” Sheffield professor Laura Murphy said in an emailed release April 17. The briefs will cover “the context of forced labor in the region, products made with Uyghur forced labor” and “common concerns about addressing the issue,” and provide guidance to companies and others seeking to address the issue. “Easy to digest, these briefs and updates are meant to introduce newcomers to the issue and keep experts and stakeholders up to date,” Sheffield said. The first of the reports came out April 17, and covers the evidence of the use of forced labor in the region. Murphy leads the Sheffield University team that penned previous reports on forced labor in supply chains for auto parts, vinyl flooring and cotton (see 2303150051).
A staff report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says that Congress should consider that "current customs and tariff levels disproportionately benefit Chinese e-commerce firms," and that packages sent to U.S. consumers "are frequently not inspected. Those that are inspected are often subject to rudimentary visual checks without the technology or screening to trace fabric origin and other violations."
A lack of specifics and dire consequences for listing companies on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List creates "an enormously high-stakes and error-prone" environment, customs lawyer John Foote of Kelley Drye said April 14 in a blog post.
Forced labor enforcement is "likely to ramp up even further" based on the inquiry of automakers led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and a letter from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, international trade lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP Ted Murphy said April 13. Wyden's investigation, which began last December, focuses on automakers and their use of forced labor in the supply chain (see 2212220045). Wyden's role as Senate Finance Committee chairman means the investigation on the auto industry's supply chains and their connection to Xinjiang "is likely going to spur CBP into action," and auto manufacturers and suppliers will likely see increased UFLPA detentions, according to Murphy.
The chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, along with the lead sponsors of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, told Homeland Security Undersecretary Robert Silvers that they're concerned about the implementation of UFLPA, and that they intend to call Silvers to testify at a hearing in the near future, along with "a panel of experts on trade, labor trafficking, and supply chain mapping."
Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau are not included under recently deployed Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act requirements in ACE, CBP said in a recent CSMS message. Those customs territories are recognized under the separate country codes HK, TW and MO, respectively, CBP said. The UFLPA Region Alert took effect in ACE on March 18.
An international trade lawyer with Crowell's Los Angeles office said the focus of CBP on raw materials, whether cotton in apparel or polysilicon in solar panels, requires far more visibility into supply chains than importers were used to.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai reassured the members of the National Council of Textile Organizations that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has no interest in loosening rules of origin for clothing made in Central America and the Dominican Republic. Some have argued that the CAFTA-DR has not lived up to its potential because its rules are too restrictive (see 2112030045 and 2104140047).