[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 79 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17956-17957]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-9875]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Customs Service
[T.D. 96-34]


Determination That Merchandise Imported From the People's 
Republic of China Is Produced Using Convict, Forced, or Indentured 
Labor by the Tianjin Malleable Iron Factory

AGENCY: U.S. Customs Service, Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Determination that Subject Merchandise is Prohibited by 19 
U.S.C. 1307 From Importation into the United States.

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SUMMARY: This document advises that the Commissioner of Customs, with 
the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, has determined that 
certain iron pipe fittings, which are being, or are likely to be 
imported into the United States from the People's Republic of China 
(PRC), are being manufactured with the use of convict, forced, or 
indentured labor by the Tianjin Malleable Iron Factory, Tianjin 
Municipality, People's Republic of China. This facility may also be 
known as the Tianjin Tongbao Fittings Company, the Tianjin NO. 2 
Malleable Iron Plant, the Tianjin Secondary Mugging Factory, or the 
Tianjin NO. 2 Prison. The Commissioner of Customs, pursuant to 19 CFR 
12.42(f), has determined, on the basis of a Customs investigation, that 
such merchandise is being, or is likely to be, imported into the United 
States in violation of Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended 
(19 U.S.C. 1307), unless, pursuant to 19 CFR 12.42(g), 12.43, and 
12.44, the importer establishes by satisfactory evidence that the 
merchandise was not mined, produced,or manufactured in any part with 
the use of a class of labor specified herein.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This determination shall take effect on or before April 
29, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Buford E. Gates, Senior Special Agent, 
Office of Investigations, Fraud Investigations Division, Headquarters, 
U.S. Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20229, 
202-927-2195.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 307, Tariff Act of 1930 as amended, (19 U.S.C. 1307) 
provides in pertinent part that:

    All goods, wares, articles, and merchandise, mined, produced, or 
manufactured wholly, or in part, in any foreign country by convict 
labor or/and forced labor or/and indentured labor under penal 
sanctions, shall not be entitled to entry at any of the ports of the 
United States, and the importation thereof is hereby prohibited, and 
the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to 
prescribe such regulations as may be necessary for the enforcement 
of this provision.
    Forced labor is defined as ``All work or service which is 
exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for its 
nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself 
voluntarily.''

    Pursuant to section 307, the Secretary of the Treasury promulgated 
implementing regulations found at 19 CFR 12.42, et seq. These 
regulations set forth the procedure for the Commissioner of Customs to 
make a finding that an article being produced, whether by mining, 
manufacture, or other means, in any foreign locality with the use of 
convict labor, forced labor, or indentured labor under penal sanctions 
so as to come under the purview of 19 U.S.C. 1307 is being, or is 
likely to be, imported into the United States. Paragraph (f) of section 
12.42, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 12.42(f), provides that if the 
Commissioner of Customs finds that merchandise within the purview of 19 
U.S.C. 1307 is being, or is likely to be, imported into the United 
States, {s}he will, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
publish a finding to that effect in a weekly issue

[[Page 17957]]

of the Customs Bulletin and in the Federal Register.

Finding

    Pursuant to section 12.42(f), Customs Regulations (19 CFR 
12.42(f)), it is hereby determined that certain articles of the 
People's Republic of China which are produced, whether by mining, 
manufacture, or other means, with the use of convict, forced, or 
indentured labor, are being, or are likely to be, imported into the 
United States.
    Accordingly, based upon this finding, Customs officers shall 
withhold release of any of these articles from the People's Republic of 
China. Such discovered articles may be only exported by the Customs 
Service.

Articles Covered by This Finding

    Malleable Iron Pipe Fittings manufactured by the Tianjin 
Malleable Iron Factory, also known as the Tianjin Tongbao Fittings 
Company, also known as the Tianjin NO. 2 Malleable Iron Plant, also 
known as the Tianjin Secondary Mugging Factory, also known as the 
Tianjin NO.2 Prison.

Subject Harmonized Tariff Schedule Numbers

    7307.1930, 7307.1990, 7307.911000, 7307.915010, 7307.915050, 
7307.923010, 7307.929000, 7307.933000, 7307.939030, 7307.991000, 
7307.995015, and 7307.995045.

    Dated: March 6, 1996.
Michael H. Lane,
Acting Commissioner of Customs.

    Dated: March 20, 1996.
John P. Simpson,
Deputy Assistant Secretary Regulatory, Tariff and Trade Enforcement.
[FR Doc. 96-9875 Filed 4-22-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4820-02-P