By Rossella Brevetti
March 30 — Imports of soda ash, calcium chloride, caustic soda, and viscose/rayon fiber manufactured or mined by Tangshan Sanyou Group and its subsidiaries in China will be detained at U.S. ports of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced March 29.
CBP's order to hold the shipment and investigate whether it was produced with forced labor marks the first such action since 2001 and steps up enforcement against forced prison-made goods, according to a statement by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Section 307 of the 1930 Tariff Act bars imports of goods made with forced labor. The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (Pub. L. No. 114-1250) closed a Tariff Act loophole permitting imports of goods made with forced labor if U.S. production was insufficient to meet domestic demand. Under the law, interested parties may petition Customs to investigate whether an import was produced using forced or slave labor in another country(37 ITD, 2/25/16).
“CBP is committed to vigorously enforcing the legal prohibition on the importation of goods manufactured with forced labor,” Customs Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske said in a statement. “CBP will do its part to ensure that products entering the United States were not made by exploiting those forced to work against their will, and to ensure that American businesses and workers do not have to compete with businesses profiting from forced labor.”
CBP said it based its decision on information indicating that the Tangshan Sanyou Group and its subsidiaries use convict labor to produce the goods.
“The Senate sent a strong message that there is no place for products made by slave labor in the United States, and today CBP followed suit by stepping up enforcement against forced prisoner-made goods,” Wyden said. “Eliminating these morally repugnant products from the market is the right thing to do, and it will help U.S. workers and products compete on even footing with other nations.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Rossella Brevetti in Washington at rbrevetti@bna.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jerome Ashton at jashton@bna.com
For More Information
The Customs announcement is available at
http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/2016-03-29-000000/cbp-commissioner-issues-detention-order-chemical.
