Though CBP's issuance of withhold release orders and forced labor findings has slowed recently as the agency focuses on implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the agency will continue to use its traditional tools to combat forced labor, aided by recent increases in funding for forced labor enforcement, Jessica Rifkin, a customs lawyer with Benjamin England & Associates, said during a webinar Feb. 28.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The new Republican majority in the House Ways and Means Committee said it plans to do oversight across a multitude of trade policies advanced by the administration, including enforcement of trade agreements and trade negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade and the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership. For existing FTAs, the committee said it wishes to identify provisions that should be updated to improve the agreements' benefits for the U.S.
CBP’s recently issued guidance on Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act enforcement (see 2302230042) provides “much needed clarity” around UFLPA applicability review submissions, and marks an attempt by the agency to “create structure for a process that has quickly buried both importer and agency under burdens of unfathomable intricacy and complexity,” customs lawyer John Foote said in a Feb 24 blog post.
CBP published a set of new guidance documents for importers on the agency’s enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act on Feb. 23, including new answers to frequently asked questions on its website, best practices for submitting documentation to prove detained goods aren’t subject to UFLPA, and guidance on how executive summaries and tables of contents should be put together for that documentation.
The National Legal and Policy Center urged Apple shareholders to vote for a proposal appearing on their proxy ballots that would require Apple to file annual reports to the shareholders on the company's involvement with China. The recommendation came in a Proxy Memorandum sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission Feb. 14.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP is unlikely to publicly list every entity that it determines engages in forced labor, said Ana Hinojosa, the former executive director of CBP's Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate. Although importers want CBP to provide them with a comprehensive list of potential companies not to work with, Hinojosa said it would be “an impossibility” based on how quickly companies change names after getting caught.
The Senate Finance Committee's chairman and ranking member said it's time to turn their attention to customs modernization, with both saying any bill will need to both enhance enforcement and make legitimate trade move faster and with more certainty.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: