19 April (Lloyd's List) - COMPLIANCE with a law prohibiting goods produced with forced labour from entering the US could unintentionally lead to supply chain disruptions, according to Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel.
“I support the mandate to protect against the morally reprehensible use of forced labour in the production of goods entering into international trade, and support [the US Customs and Border Protection] agency’s efforts in implementing this legislation,” Mr Bentzel said in a statement. “Legitimate delays in ensuring compliance with Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act may create cargo back-ups at US marine terminals leading to operational challenges and potentially congestion.”
In a letter to the customs agency, he said inconsistent cargo detention procedures are causing supply chain snarls, and urged the agency to consider changes that could reduce detention costs to importers and administrative costs to the agency.
He cited situations where some customs offices allow containers to be moved to a bonded warehouse and devanned, while others require the containers to remain at the port, and still others instruct importers to move the containers to a centralised examination station where they must remain intact.
“Further, the potential use of marine terminals as inspection sites could cause delays and wider congestion-related loss,” he said. “Harmonised procedures for handling products detained under the [act] would help expedite the review process.”
The customs agency should place detained cargoes in facilities suited to their contents and communicate with cargo owners to understand their products' storage requirements, he said, adding guidance was required on how future detained cargoes will be handled.
US Customs has been approached for comment.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act, which came into effect last June, established a presumption that prohibits the importation of “goods, wares, articles and merchandise mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, or produced by certain entities.”
According to US customs data, 2,293 entries were stopped for forced labour enforcement action or reviews between October and March.
