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ARTICLE · 02 JANUARY 2023

Forced Labor Court Case Ends With A Whimper

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CBP detained the shipment in early 2021 alleging that the palm oil was subject to a withhold release order issued against Sime Darby Plantation Berhad.

GlobalInternational Law
John B. Brew
John B. Brew
Laurel Saito
Laurel Saito
Wing Cheung
Wing Cheung

The U.S, Court of International Trade ("CIT") issued a final opinion in Virtus Nutrition LLC's ("Virtus") challenge to Customs and Border Protection's ("CBP") detention of Malaysian palm oil imports, rejecting Vitrus' request that the CIT confirm the importer's right to re-export the shipment. Please see link to case [here].

CBP detained the shipment in early 2021 alleging that the palm oil was subject to a withhold release order ("WRO") issued against Sime Darby Plantation Berhad. See link [here]. To obtain release of the shipment, Virtus provided CBP with extensive documentation concerning the production process. However, CBP found the documentation was not sufficient and instructed Virtus to export or destroy the merchandise within a 60-day time frame. Virtus filed a protest on CBP's decision, which CBP denied, claiming insufficient documentation. Virtus brought the case before the CIT to contest the denial of the protest. (Virtus Nutrition, LLC v. United States,

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