Top trade officials from Europe, Japan and North America emphasized problematic economic behavior in China, without mentioning the world's second-largest economy by name, at the end of the G-7 meeting of trade ministers.
CBP pulled down two recent rulings from its website that detailed the agency's detention of shipments imported by Uniqlo over suspected use of cotton from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China. A May 10 ruling said that Uniqlo was unable to prove XPCC wasn't used (see 2105130031), while a May 18 ruling said that some products within another detained shipment could be released because they weren't made of cotton (see 2105200039). The link to each ruling now says the ruling document “is not available.” CBP didn't comment.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 20 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
CBP allowed for the release of some styles of men's shirts imported by Uniqlo that were detained over the suspected use of cotton from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China because the shirts were not made of cotton, the agency said in a May 18 ruling. The ruling, HQ H318835, discloses that CBP detained a second Uniqlo shipment over a possible XPCC connection. The first detention was mentioned in another recent ruling, in which CBP said Uniqlo hadn't sufficiently shown XPCC cotton wasn't used (see 2105130031). The ruling wasn't available on the CBP rulings database as of press time May 20.
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Palm oil importer Virtus Nutrition's wish for an expedited briefing schedule has hit a snag, with the Department of Justice filing its opposition to the importer's application for an order directing the U.S. government to show cause why an expedited litigation schedule should not be entered in the Court of International Trade. Due to the case involving a "complex, novel legal issue" and a longer discovery period for the case, DOJ argued Virtus' request for a shortened litigation timeline should be nixed. The case involves Virtus' more than $2 million in palm oil imports from Malaysia held up by CBP over suspicions of having been made with forced labor, in violation of a Withhold Release Order (Virtus Nutrition, LLC v. United States, CIT # 21-00165).
Arent Fox is launching a Forced Labor team led by Angela Santos to assist companies in implementing forced labor compliance procedures, the firm announced in a May 12 alert. Given CBP's increased focus on forced labor in global supply chains, the need for proper import compliance and supply chain due diligence is at an all-time high. The new team seeks to help with that compliance and offers other services such as protests and petitions for release of seized merchandise, forced labor codes of conduct, supplier forced labor agreements, supply chain evaluations, customs questionnaires, forced labor audits and protest, forfeiture and customs penalty cases, according to the alert.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 12 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
Efforts by Uniqlo to prove that no connection exists between a shipment of men's shirts and cotton from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China were insufficient, CBP said in a May 10 ruling. CBP stopped a shipment at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach in January, about a month after the agency issued a withhold release order on all cotton products made by XPCC (see 2012020071).
Palm oil importer Virtus Nutrition, LLC wants an expedited ruling on itsmore than $2 million in palm oil imports held up by CBP, filing a motion for assignment of a judge and an application for an order directing the U.S. government to show cause why an expedited litigation schedule should not be entered on May 12. Due to storage fees of over $35,000 a month agreed to between Virtus and the port director of CBP for the Port of San Francisco/Oakland, the importer wants to quickly get a ruling on the case and free up the palm oil imports.