The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA) was signed into law on February 24, 2016. One of the key areas of focus was forced labor.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) defines forced labor as:
“all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer work or service voluntarily. Indentured labor is defined as work or service performed pursuant to a contract, the enforcement of which can be accomplished by process or penalties. This includes forced or indentured child labor.”
CBP actions violations through issuance of Withhold Release Orders (WRO) to prevent merchandise produced in whole or in part in a foreign country using forced labor from being imported into the United States. Active WROs can be found on the CBP website.
CBP is responsible for preventing the entry of products made with forced labor into the U.S. market by investigating and acting upon allegations of forced labor in supply chains. Willson International encourages our clients to review the information on CBP’s website regarding forced labor and examine their supply chain for risk.
Information on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) can also be found on the CBP website.
The UFLPA, in part, directs CBP to implement a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, or produced by certain entities, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and that such goods, wares, articles, and merchandise are not entitled to entry into the United States. The presumption applies unless the CBP Commissioner determines that the importer of record has complied with specified conditions and, by clear and convincing evidence, that the goods, wares, articles, or merchandise were not produced using forced labor. The rebuttable presumption went into effect on June 21, 2022.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact the U.S. Regulatory Team at transitionus@willsonintl.com