Products tainted by Uyghur forced labor include a "vast array" of agricultural products, raw materials and manufactured goods and are not just limited to the few industries CBP has specifically targeted, according to a report from Sheffield Hallam University released May 15. While tomatoes, cotton and polysilicon do have a large market share of goods produced through forced labor, China's extensive production of raw materials, agricultural products, and manufacturing products means that many industries have some sort of tie to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
The Federal Maritime Commission on May 11 alerted industry that several of its applications are experiencing issues with email notifications. The affected applications are Form 1, Form 18, OTI Renewals, Form 65 Renewals, eMonitoring, eAgreements and BCL Fileroom, it said. The FMC Office of Information Technology is troubleshooting.
Former chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Gregg Doud called for the use of the new enforcement mechanism in the USMCA during a House Agriculture Committee hearing May 11.
Federal agencies led by the DHS' Homeland Security Investigations unit carried out a court-authorized search on May 8 of a JinkoSloar plant in Jacksonville, Florida, an FBI spokesperson confirmed to International Trade Today.
The Federal Maritime Commission hired John Crews as the first director of its Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance, the commission said May 8. He will “supervise and coordinate the personnel and activities” of the FMC enforcement program's three offices that were consolidated to form BEIC.
The American Cotton Shippers Association asked the Federal Maritime Commission to uphold a recent summary decision that ordered carriers to stop adopting, maintaining and enforcing regulations or practices that "limit the ability of a motor carrier to select the chassis provider." In an amicus brief filed to the FMC May 8, ACSA said it supports the decision because agreements between ocean carriers and non-party Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs) place limits on the “choice in chassis provisioning for U.S. cotton exporters, thereby causing delays in the movement of cotton, creating avoidably inefficiencies, imposing needless costs, and ultimately undermining the competitiveness of U.S. cotton shipments in the global marketplace."
CertiFit, a Utah-based auto parts importer, on May 4 filed a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission against Evergreen Line, accusing the ocean carrier of violating shipping regulations. CertiFit accused Evergreen of "systematically failing to meet its commitments" under a service contract, "refusing tendered cargo, refusing to provide empty containers, failing to provide necessary information concerning booking issues, and a refusal to deal," the complaint said. CertiFit is seeking reparations for Evergreen's alleged violations of the Shipping Act.
A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico indicted Chinese national Shuyi Mo on April 26 for fraud by wire and conspiracy to commit offense to defraud the U.S., CBP announced on May 4. Mo is the manager of a China-based supplier, Neviews Development Co. Ltd. According to the news release, Neviews conspired with a U.S. importer in Puerto Rico to "transship procelan mosaic tiles from China through Malaysia to circumvent antidumping and countervailing duties of approximately 718%," the release said. This scheme led to a revenue loss of approximately $1.1 million for the U.S. government, CBP said.
CBP is seeking applicants by June 5 for the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC). The COAC "provides advice and makes recommendations" the Treasury and DHS secretaries "on all matters involving the commercial operations of CBP and related functions," CBP said in a Federal Register notice.
Over half of charge complaints submitted to the Federal Maritime Commission have been resolved by the parties agreeing to a settlement, FMC Managing Director Lucille Marvin said during a May 3 FMC meeting. More than half of what comes in gets settled "almost right away," Marvin said. Once "regulated entities see that we're involved, they come back to the table and issue refunds or waivers."