Last month, plantation industries and commodities minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said most of the forced labour claims made by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other groups were not verified by the US authorities, resulting in a “grossly unfair” ban on Malaysian palm oil and palm oil products.

Responding to the statement, a top CBP official today stressed to Malaysian media that the WROs were issued based on the results of thorough investigations, with the agency “relying heavily” on independent third-party audits commissioned by the companies.

“The WROs are issued based on the results of investigations we conduct, and again, it goes back to the level of evidence that we require for our WROs,” said Eric Choy, acting executive director, trade remedy law enforcement at the CBP’s Office of Trade.

“Before we issue these WROs, they go through intense legal scrutiny by our own legal team and by our inter-agency partners across the US federal government. So we are fairly certain that once we issue the WROs, we have enough evidence to move forward.

“That’s not to say CBP would not, at some point, send teams to do verifications.”

However, Choy was ambiguous when asked by FMT whether CBP had ever sent officials to conduct forced labour investigations in Malaysia.

“That is very proprietary information with regard to our investigation,” he said.

“It’s difficult for us to answer those questions specifically. But we do feel confident in our investigation and analysis.”

He added that CBP used information from investigative journalists, CBP’s agency partners, other law enforcement sources, NGOs, and civil society groups to compile evidence before issuing the WROs.

Meanwhile, John Leonard, deputy executive assistant commissioner at the CBP’s Office of Trade, said that CBP also received “a lot of information and material” along with allegations from its sources.

“All these things get us to a point where we can corroborate the information that get us to a reasonable level of suspicion that forced labour is used in the manufacturing of goods entering the US.”

Initially, eight Malaysian companies, including those involved in palm oil and glove manufacturing, were on a list of firms whose products were banned from entering the US due to “reasonable evidence” of forced labour practices.

Two glove manufacturers, Top Glove and WRP Asia Pacific, have since been removed from the list after satisfying CBP’s requirement.