CBP is ready for the June start date of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, John Leonard, deputy executive assistant commissioner of the CBP Office of Trade told a textile conference audience. However, Leonard acknowledged that CBP won't have identified factories outside of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that employ Uyghurs or members of other persecuted groups by the start of enforcement. Those goods are also supposed to be blocked under the UFLPA.

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The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and the likelihood that the EU will pass a due diligence directive requiring disclosure of forced labor risk for large companies are changing the paradigm of supply chain visibility, a top Labor Department official said during a webinar on human rights in global supply chains. Thea Lee, a long-time union official and now deputy undersecretary for international affairs in the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, said, "I do think that we are in a new era, and it will behoove most companies to start taking these steps to be able to have the eyes into their supply chain whether they are directly impacted right now by the EU directive or whether they are selling goods into the United States."

Toasted onion products from China are properly classified under heading 2005 as prepared or preserved onions instead of under heading 0712 as dried onions due to additional processing beyond simple drying, CBP recently ruled.

Conditions in the solar industry are “increasingly uncertain” as the Commerce Department undertakes an anti-circumvention inquiry on solar cells and panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, on top of an existing CBP withhold release order and “module pricing concerns,” FTC Solar said in its first quarter financial results released May 10.

The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking comments on potential changes to its rules for Carrier Automated Tariffs, including whether carrier tariffs should be available “free of charge” and if the definition of co-loading should be revised to apply only to “less than container loads.” Other proposed changes described in the rule, released May 9, would allow non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) to “cross reference certain aspects of other carriers’ terms in their tariffs,” clarify NVOCCs’ ability to “reflect increases in certain charges passed-through by other entities without notice,” require that documentation must be annotated with the names of all NVOCCs involved in a shipping transaction, and “make other miscellaneous updates and clarifications.”

The Federal Maritime Commission needs cooperation from the trade and logistics community to engage in meaningful enforcement, FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said. Speaking last week at the annual National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference, Maffei said that he has been frustrated that "a lot of people expect the FMC to intervene on the side of small shippers" and don't understand the limits of the commission's authority.

When the Biden administration announced that the U.S. would roll back 25% tariffs on Ukrainian steel for one year, following the U.K. and the EU, there was no pushback from steel interests, and praise from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore.. He issued a statement that said, "As Ukraine continues to valiantly fend off Russia's brutal invasion, it is important that the United States do everything it can to support the Ukrainian economy. Removing the Section 232 tariffs is an appropriate and welcome move from the Biden Administration that makes clear our primary concern is with China's overcapacity, not the people of Ukraine."

TUCSON, Arizona -- CBP has made strides in improving its liquidation time frames for drawback claims, but the agency still has a hefty “inventory” of claims and could benefit from some ACE programming changes to make further progress, said Janelle Cray, chief of CBP’s drawback and revenue branch, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference on May 4.

TUCSON, Arizona -- CBP will be issuing its guidance on the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act prior to the new law’s June 21 effective date, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in remarks at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference May 4. The guidance, which will “provide transparency to CBP’s operational approach,” will be out “very, very soon,” he said.