Release Date
Fri, 02/03/2023 - 12:00
With forced labor concerns addressed, CBP allows Sime Darby Plantation Berhad palm oil and derivative products into the U.S.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection today modified its formal Finding in the Customs Bulletin and in the Federal Register pursuant to 19 C.F.R. §12.42(g) based on satisfactory evidence that Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, its subsidiaries, and joint ventures no longer produce palm oil and its derivative products using forced labor.
Effective immediately, the U.S. will allow shipments containing Sime Darby-produced palm oil and derivatives to enter the U.S. commerce, provided the imports are otherwise in compliance with U.S. law.
“We see every modification as a tremendous success,” said CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller. “Our mandate as an agency is to prohibit forced labor from entering the U.S. commerce. In the best-case scenario, our enforcement affects the remediation of forced labor to help improve living and working conditions for workers around the world, just as it did in this case. Actions like this ensure that the goods that make their way into the United States are ethically sourced while protecting American businesses from unfair economic trade practices.”
On January 28, 2022, CBP published a Finding in the Federal Register against palm oil and its derivative products produced by Sime Darby, its subsidiaries, and joint ventures. CBP instructed its personnel to begin seizing such shipments of palm oil and its derivative products due to information indicating that Sime Darby used forced labor to produce them.
The Finding expanded upon a Withhold Release Order (WRO) that CBP issued on December 30, 2020. The WRO was based on reasonable, but not conclusive information, that forced labor was being used in Sime Darby’s production process and that such products were being, or likely to be, imported into the U.S.
19 U.S.C. § 1307 prohibits the importation of “[a]ll goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in any foreign country by convict labor or/and forced labor or/and indentured labor … includ[ing] forced or indentured child labor.” When CBP has information reasonably indicating that imported goods are made by forced labor, the agency will order personnel at U.S. ports of entry to detain shipments of those goods. Such detained shipments will be excluded and subject to seizure and forfeiture if the importer fails to demonstrate proof of admissibility, in accordance with 19 C.F.R §12.43, or export the shipment. Read More→
