withhold release order

A Withhold Release Order (WRO) is an enforcement tool used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to block imports suspected of being produced wholly or in part with forced labor, convict labor, or indentured labor. The legal basis is Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1307), which prohibits the importation of such goods into the United States.

When CBP's Office of Trade has information that reasonably indicates merchandise was made with forced labor, the Commissioner can issue a WRO directing port personnel to detain shipments at U.S. ports of entry. Importers then have an opportunity to either re-export the goods or submit evidence — typically supply-chain documentation, audits, and proof of remediation — demonstrating that the merchandise was not produced with forced labor. If the evidence is insufficient, CBP may issue a formal finding published in the Federal Register, after which goods can be seized and forfeited.

For many years, Section 307 was rarely used because of a "consumptive demand" loophole that permitted imports if domestic supply was inadequate. That loophole was closed by the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, after which WRO activity expanded significantly. High-profile WROs have targeted cotton and tomato products from China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, palm oil from specific Malaysian producers, and seafood from particular fishing vessels. The Xinjiang-related enforcement has since been reinforced by the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) of 2021, which created a rebuttable presumption that goods made in Xinjiang are produced with forced labor.

WROs differ from sanctions: they target goods rather than persons or entities, and they shift the evidentiary burden onto importers. For political-economy analysts, WROs illustrate the growing use of trade law to address human rights concerns and the extraterritorial reach of domestic enforcement into global supply chains. Compliance programs at multinational firms increasingly rely on supply-chain mapping, third-party audits, and traceability technologies to mitigate WRO exposure.