Sheffield Hallam University professor of human rights and contemporary slavery Laura Murphy said CBP needs much more funding to enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, because she does not think companies will cut their ties immediately to China's Xinjiang province as a result of the new law. Murphy, who was interviewed by Hudson Institute senior fellow Nury Turkel on March 9, said she has not yet found a company with production in Xinjiang that can provide clear evidence that it does not employ Uyghur workers who were coerced into taking their jobs.
CBP should take an approach to implementing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that is different than the current withhold release order regime, the American Association of Exporters and Importers said in comments to DHS. "The solution to forced labor does not lie with seizing goods at time of arrival," the trade group said. "Rather, it lies in timely information about suspected problem parties being shared at the time they are reliably identified."
Arent Fox lawyers said a disclosure bill aimed at large fashion retailers and manufacturers may not pass in the New York statehouse, but it's making lots of people in the industry nervous (see 2201200046). "Even if this bill doesn't pass, there's going to be others in the future," Angela Santos said.
The two top issues Thomas Overacker, CBP's executive director of cargo and conveyance security, has been dealing with are the blockades at the Canadian border and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. He told an audience at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones' legislative conference that CBP is going to have a challenge identifying what goods come from the Xinjiang region, given the number of middle men in China, issuing invoices or acting as freight forwarders. "It’s not always evident from the data we collect at CBP … where the goods were actually produced," he said Feb. 15.
Importers are concerned that they will face a higher likelihood of goods being detained over the suspicion of forced labor come June without having the benefit of government advice on effective due diligence and supply chain tracing. But even that advice may not be enough of a roadmap for companies to be sure they can escape the rebuttable presumption that the item they are importing that could have inputs linked to Uyghur labor or Xinjiang production should be barred from entry into the United States, said Ted Murphy, a partner at Sidley Austin.
Senate and House lawmakers reached an agreement on compromise text that merges versions of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act from each chamber, and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told International Trade Today on Dec. 14 that he hopes the new bill can pass the House later in the day. It is scheduled for a vote after 6 p.m. McGovern continued to say his version had been stronger than the one written by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., but said he had to consider what could get through the Senate. Rubio's bill passed the Senate under unanimous consent this summer.
Arent Fox has brought on four lawyers to join its Customs and Import Compliance team over the course of 2021, the firm said. In the New York office are Angela Santos, a partner who leads Arent Fox's forced labor task force and focuses on customs enforcement actions, and Christine Hintze, an associate specializing in CBP's enforcement of forced labor laws and regulations. James Kim, an associate in the San Francisco office, advises clients on international trade and customs matters. Richard McManus, counsel in the Washington, D.C., and a former employee with the Office of the Chief Counsel at CBP, brings a wealth of customs experience, the firm said.
CBP released details on the timelines used for responding to allegations of forced labor in a supply chain, in a July 30 report to Congress posted to the Department of Homeland Security website Sept. 22. The timelines “generally reflect the lifecycle of CBP responding to a petition; however, responding to a petition is a law enforcement investigation and not a linear administrative process,” DHS said. As a result, “extraordinarily complicated investigations, case prioritization, available resources, and other significant factors may affect the actual timeline of certain case,” DHS said.
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At a White House press briefing, National Economic Council Deputy Director Sameera Fazili said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will lead a Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force "to tackle near-term bottlenecks in the semiconductor, homebuilding and construction, transportation, and agricultural and food industries."