China fined Mintz Group, an American due diligence services firm, $1.5 million for allegedly conducting "unapproved statistical work," The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 21. This comes after China raided Mintz Group's office in March and detained five officials, the report said (see 2305260054).
Noah Garfinkel
Noah Garfinkel, Assistant Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today. Noah joined Warren Communication News in early 2023 covering customs, the Federal Maritime Commission and export controls. Noah’s background is in breaking news, reporting and research. Noah most recently worked for a year with Axios as a part of a fellowship program. Noah is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in History.
CBP in July identified 388 shipments valued at more than $107 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor, including goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and withhold release orders, the agency said in its most recent operational statistics update. That's down from June, when CBP identified a total of 405 shipments valued at more than $239 million (see 2307190029). Also in July, CBP seized 1,698 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $165 million, the agency said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) will begin an investigation in response to a complaint accusing Ralph Lauren Canada LP of "using or benefiting" from Uyghur forced labor, CORE announced in a press release Aug. 15. This follows the publication of an Initial Assessment report for Ralph Lauren Canada detailing allegations that it has supply relationships with Chinese companies that use Uyghur forced labor.
Walmart and Centric Brands are investigating labor practices in their supply chains in Cambodia over allegations that inmates at the largest women's prison in Cambodia were illegally employed to make garments, Reuters reported Aug. 21.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A new report from a human rights research group reveals over 200 recent allegations of labor abuses in Myanmar’s garment industry and highlights the due diligence challenges faced by fashion companies and other businesses sourcing from the region. The report, produced by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, said abuse allegations have spiked since the country’s military coup in 2021, and have included wage reductions, wage theft and forced overtime.
The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) and the Trade Compliance (TC) Program portals will go into a data freeze window Sept. 16-30, with no access to either portal during this time, CBP said in a CTPAT update Aug. 9.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Failure to maintain a "robust system" of submitting and monitoring their own Section 232 exclusions could cost importers millions of dollars in "duty savings opportunities," said a blog post from law firm Crowell & Moring Aug. 15. A new report from the Government Accountability Office that found more than $32 million in unpaid Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum because the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security and CBP hadn't detected that the exclusion had been filed (see 2307210064).