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 1. Application of Section 307
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
