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1 1 (October 25, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govenhf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the IegisIative debate since 1914 Updated October 25, 2023 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 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 brought up humanitarian concerns during debate, the central legislative purpose was protecting domestic producers from competing with products made with forced labor. As such, Section 307 allowed products of forced labor if no comparable product was made in the United States or the level of domestic production did not meet U.S. consumptive demand. Over the decades, lawmakers and civil society became increasingly concerned about forced labor in the context of human trafficking. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Division A of P.L. 106-386), for example, included forced labor in its definition of human trafficking, concordant with a U.N. anti-trafficking protocol adopted that year. Similarly, Congress removed the consumptive demand clause as part of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (P.L. 114-125) in 2015. Since then, and amid ongoing interest in worker rights in trade policy, use of Section 307 has increased. Application of Section 307 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). Port directors and other principal customs officers must report such instances to the CBP Commissioner. Persons outside of CBP may also submit allegations online. Upon receipt, the CBP Commissioner is required to initiate an investigation as appears warranted by the amount and reliability of the submitted information. If the Commissioner 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. Traditionally, CBP has issued WROs that target specific goods from specific producers, though this practice has changed in recent years. Figure I. Application of Section 307 0 Rece :t of CBP Commissioner allegaflon or intIates -CBP self- n thation investigatilon. 0 CBP Comm s sioner issues a WRO. Any f.n. are puhi redera, 1>Importer may export merchandise or con test the WRO7. ifindis ;hed n the Reister. CBP seizes non-exorted merchandise and commen forfeiture proceedings. Source: CRS, based on CBP. An importer has three months to contest a WRO and must demonstrate that 'every reasonable effort' has been made to determine the source and type of labor used to produce the merchandise and its components. If the importer does not successfully contest the WRO or remove the merchandise from the United States, CBP may seize and destroy it. Beyond publishing the date, type of good, manufacturer, and WRO status, CBP does not generally publish information about detentions, reexportations, exclusions, or seizures. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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 per the Trade and Development Act of 2000, P.L. 106-200) and List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (per 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, though have traditionally been used to increase awareness rather than to inform specific 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. Trends 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 60 to 75 instances when either interested parties requested or Customs considered the application of Section 307. Of those instances, merchandise was denied entry into the

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