KUALA LUMPUR – Following sanctions on Top Glove Corp Bhd, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has instructed the glovemaking giant to carry out additional rectification and verification work on some of the agency’s findings.
The two areas highlight by the US CBP are; 1) identity documents retained by recruitment agents to be returned to the workers, which affects less than 1% of its workers, and 2) remediation for workers who did not manage to come to Malaysia to work due to Covid-19 related lockdowns
In a statement today, Top Glove said it is “presently working on addressing and fully remediating the identified issues expeditiously”.
It added that the company has clarified with the US CBP and no new issues on forced labour have been discovered or added.
“Top Glove clarifies that to date, no disposable gloves have been seized pursuant to the withhold release order. There is also no financial and operational impact to the company based on current assessment.”
About a week ago, shipments of certain rubber-based products by Top Glove was seized by the US after its CBP announced it had found that certain products by the glovemaker were manufactured with the use of convict, forced or indentured labour.
In a notice published on March 29, the US agency stated that certain disposable gloves had been “mined, produced or manufactured in Malaysia by Top Glove Corp Bhd with the use of convict, forced or indentured labour, and are being, or are likely to be, imported into the US”.
Citing Section 307 of the Tariff Act 1930, which states that products produced using these kinds of labour shall not be entitled entry at any US ports, the findings by the CBP applies to any merchandise described in Section II of the notice that is imported on or after March 29, 2021.
“It also applies to merchandise that has already been imported and has not been released from CBP custody before March 29, 2021.”
The latest action by the CBP was the second slap on Top Glove’s wrists after the US government agency issued a withhold release order on disposable gloves indicated to be manufactured by forced labour in the country by the rubber glove giant on July 15, last year.
“Through its investigation, the CBP has determined that there is sufficient information to support a finding that Top Glove is manufacturing disposable gloves with forced labour, and that such merchandise is likely being imported into the US,” it had said.
Earlier this month, Top Glove had stated that an independent consultant had found no systemic forced labour within the group as of January 2021.
The consultant was appointed to verify corrective action plans that Top Glove implemented to eliminate the presence of forced labour indicators from its practices, the group had said. – The Vibes, April 5, 2021
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