A recent ruling by U.S. Customs and Border Protection suggests that the agency may be broadening the scope of its enforcement of the prohibition on imports made with forced labor or at least imposing a higher standard of evidence for releasing shipments suspected of violating that prohibition.
19 USC 1307 prohibits imports of all goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convict labor and/or forced labor and/or indentured labor under penal sanctions. CBP regulations allow the agency to issue a withhold release order providing for the detention of imported goods for which it has information reasonably indicating that the goods are in violation of 19 USC 1307. Under those regulations importers may obtain the release of such goods if they can establish by satisfactory evidence that the goods were not mined, produced, or manufactured in any part with the use of prohibited labor.
In January 2021 CBP issued a WRO requiring the detention of all cotton and tomatoes and their downstream products produced in whole or in part in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, including downstream products produced outside the XUAR that incorporate such inputs. That WRO was issued after CBP found a reasonable indication that there was forced labor present in the supply chains of such products.
