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1 1 (December 15, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govehaw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the legislative debate since 1914 0 Updated December 15, 2021 Section 307 and Imports Produced by Forced Labor Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1307) prohibits importing any product that was mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor, including forced or indentured child labor. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforces the prohibition. Defining Forced Labor in Section 307 Forced Labor: All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily. - 19 U.S.C. §1307 language modeled on the ILO Forced Labor Convention, 1930. U.S. customs law has prohibited importing goods produced by certain categories of labor since the end of the nineteenth century. Beginning in 1890, the United States prohibited imports of goods manufactured with convict labor. In 1930, Congress expanded this prohibition in Section 307 of the Tariff Act to include any (not just manufactured) products of forced labor. Although a few Members of Congress brought up humanitarian concerns during debate, the central legislative concern was with protecting domestic producers from competing with products made with forced labor. As such, Section 307 allowed the admission of products of forced labor if it could be shown that no comparable product was made in the United States or the level of domestic production did not meet domestic demand (consumptive demand clause). Over the decades, lawmakers and civil society became increasingly concerned about forced labor in the context of human trafficking. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386), for example. included forced labor in its definition of human trafficking. Similarly, Congress removed the consumptive demand clause, as part of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (P.L. 114-125) in 2015. Application of Section 307 Reporting Any individual who has reason to believe that any class of merchandise that is being, or is likely to be, imported into the United States is being produced by forced labor may communicate that belief to CBP (Figure 1). As required by 19 C.F.R. § 12.42, port directors and other principal customs officers must report such instances to the CBP Commissioner. Persons outside of CBP may choose to report to the Commissioner, to any port director, or online. nvestrgations and Withhold Rdease Orders Upon receipt of such a report, the Commissioner of CBP is required to initiate an investigation as appears warranted by the amount and reliability of the submitted information. If the Commissioner of CBP finds the information reasonably but not conclusively indicates that imports may be the product of forced labor, then she or he is to issue an order to withhold release of such goods (WRO) pending further instructions. CBP has usually issued WROs that target specific goods from specific producers. Figure I. Application of Section 307 Rece pt of CBP Commissioner allegat on or initiates CBP self initiation investigation. 0 CBP Cora gssioner issues a WRO. Importer may expert merchandise or contest the WRO Any fia iins are publ ied in the Federal Register. CBP seizes ton exported ` ! merchanise and commences fcetare proceedings. Source: CBP. An importer has three months to contest a WRO and must demonstrate that he or she has made every reasonable effort to determine both the source of and the type of labor used to produce the merchandise and its components. If the importer does not successfully contest the WRO and does not remove the merchandise at issue from the United States, CBP is to seize and destroy it. Beyond publishing the date, merchandise type, manufacturer, and status of a WRO, CBP does not generally publish information about specific detentions, reexportations, exclusions, or seizures. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can pursue criminal investigations of Section 307 violations. Other Labor and Anti-Trafficking Measures WROs are one of several congressionally mandated forced labor and anti-human trafficking measures. Others include the Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor (prepared in accordance with the Trade and Development Act of 2000, P.L. 106-200) and List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, P.L. 109-164). These reports contain country profiles and lists of goods suspected to have been produced by child or forced labor, but have traditionally been used to increase awareness rather than to inform CBP actions. More broadly, various international conventions and guidelines of the United Nations and International Labor Organization (ILO) address forced labor, and have informed U.S. approaches. Tren ds Following its enactment in 1930, Section 307 was rarely used to block imports. The International Trade Commission reported that between 1930 and the mid-1980s there were approximately 60 to 75 instances when either interested parties requested or Customs considered the application of

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