US Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) recently announced two updates with respect to future forced labor-related enforcement.

First, on 18 November 2022, CBP’s Office of Field Operations announced the addition of three new forced labor-related benefits that will be provided to Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (“CTPAT”) participants. Specifically, in exchange for compliance with the CTPAT requirements, which were updated on 1 August 2022, “CBP will provide the new forced labor benefits to the greatest extent possible and practical effective immediately” and will add the following three benefits:

1. Priority admissibility review, which provides that CTPAT participants that have shipments detained for suspected forced labor will receive prioritised review by the appropriate Center of Excellence and Expertise (“CEE”).  At the time supporting documentation is submitted to CBP, the importer must request prioritised review and assert it is an active member of CTPAT, which will prompt the prioritisation of review over non-CTPAT shipments by the relevant CEE.
2. Redelivery hold option, which allows CTPAT participants with shipments that have arrived at their facilities the option to “[…] hold their shipments intact at their facility, rather than redelivering the goods to CBP, until an admissiblity determination is made or until such time that a physical inspection is required.”
3. WRO-detained shipments transfer to bonded facility option, which gives CTPAT participants with shipments detained by CBP under a Withhold Release Order (“WRO”) permission “[…] to move the goods to a bonded facility to be held intact until such time that an admissibility determination is made by CBP.”

How we can help

Deloitte’s Global Trade Advisory specialists are part of a global network of practitioners who can provide specialised assistance to companies in global trade matters. Our practitioners can help companies seeking to manage the impacts and potential impacts of the developments described above, including:

• Assisting companies with assessing forced labor risks in their supply chain;
• Preparing a forced labor detection management response plan;
• Establishing cross-functional and cross-geography awareness of the US forced labor requirements;
• Gaining visibility into upstream supply chains using our global network of practitioners and determining requirements for at-risk suppliers;
• Examining imported goods to understanding forced labor risks at the product and component levels; and
• Undertaking readiness activities for CTPAT participants required to comply with new forced labor requirements by 1 August 2023.