U.S. International Trade Commission
In February 2024, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began taking a new approach to Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) enforcement—questionnaires. Once again, the solar industry is among the first targets, vanguards...more
On July 2, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced a “refreshed version” of the agency’s Complying with the Made in USA Standard guidance document. The refreshed guidance document includes, without limitation, updated...more
From Wikipedia: De minimis is a Latin expression meaning “pertaining to minimal things”, normally in the terms de minimis non curat praetor. (“The praetor does not concern himself with trifles”) or de minimis non curat lex...more
Telemedicine Owner Pleads Guilty to $136 Million Medicare Fraud - A licensed nurse practitioner in New Jersey, Jean Wilson, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. According to court...more
Regular consumers now enjoy a front-row seat to the long-running intellectual property dispute between Apple, the tech giant based in Cupertino, California, and Masimo, a medical device company based in Irvine, California....more
On December 8, 2023, Senators Bill Cassidy and Sheldon Whitehouse introduced a new version of the Customs Modernization bill to amend the Tariff Act of 1930. The new proposal comes over two years after Senator Cassidy...more
In 2022, Customs and Border Protection (“CBP” or “Customs”) processed $3.35 trillion in imports, issued 2,121 penalties, and collected $19.3 million from penalties and liquidated damages. Section 1592 of the Tariff Act of...more
The fight against forced labor in trade is not a new concept. For decades, the United States has banned the importation of goods produced with forced labor through the U.S. Tariff Act of 1930 (“Tariff Act”). Section 307 of...more
Companies invest in securing supply chains from disruption by economic and political factors, financial difficulties of suppliers, and, as we’ve recently seen, global pandemics. For those either importing goods or relying on...more
Automakers and their suppliers have long been participants in unfair trade investigations before the International Trade Commission (“ITC”), but the scope and subject matter of automotive-related investigations is evolving....more
Enforcement actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are increasingly more intensive and less lenient than in the past based on our experience. It is not uncommon in today’s regulatory enforcement landscape for...more
The rebuttable presumption of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act ("UFLPA") took effect on June 21, 2022. As a reminder, under this presumption for purposes of Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, goods produced in the...more
Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force issues required enforcement strategy, including guidance to importers. On June 21, 2022, the key operative provision of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) entered into...more
On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comments on the implementation of the new regional import restriction affecting goods from the...more
Will 2022 Be the Year of Supply Chain Ethics? Effective June 21, 2022, in an effort to address forced labor concerns, U.S. law will broadly prohibit imports of products from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region...more
On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA or the “Act”), Pub. L. No. 117-78, which will ban the importation of all goods sourced from the People’s Republic of...more
US importers should participate in the Task Force's comment and hearing process to flag due diligence challenges and formulate the strategy to enforce the import prohibitions. What to Know - Effective June 21, 2022, 180...more
After more than a year of debate in the U.S. Congress as to the scope and enforceability, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA or Act) passed Congress with strong bipartisan support. President Biden has publicly...more
The UFLPA aims to clamp down on the import of items produced by alleged forced labor in and relating to the XUAR. On 16 December 2021, the US Senate unanimously passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA),...more
The Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) in U.S. Department of Commerce has added 34 more companies to its Entity List in its continued expansion of U.S. export controls to address human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur...more
On Thursday, 24 June 2021, the Biden administration took various actions against solar product manufacturers in the Xinjiang region, which will have implications on the supply chain for the construction of solar energy...more
In an anticipated move, the Biden administration escalated its forced labor enforcement efforts on June 24 by announcing the issuance of a new withhold/release order (WRO) that blocks the import of certain polysilicon-based...more
On May 4, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the seizure of a shipment containing 3.97 million nitrile disposable gloves that, according to CBP, is directly linked to forced labor practices in Malaysia. ...more
Review Your Supply Chain and Establish Compliance Plans Because Forced Labor Laws are Here to Stay - If passed, these bills will grant US Customs and Border Protection authority for a region-wide WRO enabling the agency...more