KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian companies which are slapped with the Withhold Release Order (WRO) by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on grounds of forced labour will be released in three to six months time, says Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.
The Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister said this came after meetings were held during her visit to the United States recently.
"The CBP has now mellowed down and the matter is now 'water under the bridge'. They are more open to engagement and have met up with the companies that have been slapped with the WRO, which are from the rubber and palm oil industries.
"I was very clear. I asked them to update the verification process and have a scheduled timeline to process all this. They should also have a clearer mechanism when there are alleged accusations of forced labour involving source countries, especially when such things take place in the source countries.
"If they want to take this aspect of forced labour, the CBP has to discuss with source countries to overcome this issue," she said after launching the Malaysian Rubber Council's Global Funding for Rubber Innovation on Tuesday (June 7).
She added that there is a clearer understanding from the CBP on the issues at hand and the unfair allegations made against the country, especially involving forced labour, child labour and the charges imposed.
Zuraida said Malaysia wants its products to be received well instead of being held for a long period and if the US did not want these products, it was best to release them as they could be sold to other countries.
She said the CBP admitted that the legal threshold required to issue a WRO against any company is “fairly low”.
The acknowledgement from two CBP officials came at a time when six Malaysian groups of companies are currently banned from selling their products in the US over allegations of using forced labour.
The US federal agency also admitted that it does not consult or seek explanations from the companies involved, prior to issuing the WRO.
Malaysian rubber products are currently exported to 189 countries worldwide.
Exports have increased by 50.6% from RM40.1bil in 2020 to RM61.7bil last year.
