A team at Sheffield Hallam University has identified 55,000 companies involved in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), including 3,300 companies operating in textiles and 150 companies where there is "significant evidence of participation in state-sponsored transfer of legal labor," SHU professor Laura Murphy said at a hearing on April 18. The hearing was held by the Congressional-Executive Committee on China titled the "Implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act & the Global Supply Chain Impact."
CBP is looking to expand the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) to include e-commerce, agency officials said at the 2023 Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit on April 18. As part of that effort, CBP has begun to have conversations with a subsection of members of the Section 321 data pilot to better understand e-commerce and how it compares with a traditional supply chain, Bryant Van Buskirk, director of CBP's Los Angeles CTPAT Office, said.
The Federal Maritime Commission this week posted an instructional video on how to file a charge complaint. Charge complaints were established by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (see 2207140045). The video includes information about "the types of charges that can be contested, the materials needed to file a complaint, how investigations are conducted, and potential outcomes," according to an FMC press release.
CBP has made "progress" on various port modernization projects since the enactment of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law (see 2111080043), acting Executive Assistant Commissioner Ryan Scudder said during CBP’s Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit April 17. Executive Assistant Commissioner Pete Flores said the funding was "needed" but stressed that it was just a "starting point" for CBP, as the planning for these projects takes time.
The Federal Maritime Commission is giving more discretion to its Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations and Compliance (BEIC) by allowing it to issue notices of violations and to compromise civil penalty claims without first obtaining FMC approval. The changes, outlined in a final rule effective May 17, will "provide enhanced efficiency and flexibility during the enforcement process while maintaining Commission oversight," FMC said.
A lack of specifics and dire consequences for listing companies on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List creates "an enormously high-stakes and error-prone" environment, customs lawyer John Foote of Kelley Drye said April 14 in a blog post.
Forced labor enforcement is "likely to ramp up even further" based on the inquiry of automakers led by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and a letter from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, international trade lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP Ted Murphy said April 13. Wyden's investigation, which began last December, focuses on automakers and their use of forced labor in the supply chain (see 2212220045). Wyden's role as Senate Finance Committee chairman means the investigation on the auto industry's supply chains and their connection to Xinjiang "is likely going to spur CBP into action," and auto manufacturers and suppliers will likely see increased UFLPA detentions, according to Murphy.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that NAFTA had to be renegotiated because it wasn't good for American, Canadian or Mexican workers. The traditional labor complaint about NAFTA is that Mexico gained jobs at America's expense, but Tai, in a talk at the World Economy Summit hosted by Semafor on April 12, said it wasn't good for Mexican workers "because workers in Mexico did not have the opportunity really to advocate for themselves and better their conditions."
CBP released the quarterly IRS interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties. For the quarter that began April 1, the interest rate for overpayments is 6% for corporations and 7% for non-corporations. The rate for underpayments is 7% for both corporations and non-corporations. Rates are unchanged from the previous quarter (see 2301170028) but subject to change for the next quarter, CBP said.
CBP sent a reminder to customs brokers that the deadline for brokers to satisfy employee reporting requirements in the ACE Portal is April 14. According to the CSMS message, if a broker needs an extension, they should email the Broker Management Branch at brokermanagement@cbp.dhs.gov before April 14 to request more time. "Such requests should explain the broker's situation and how much additional time is needed," CBP said.