On September 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an opinion vacating and remanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection's forced labor Finding against Kingtom Aluminio S.R.L., a Dominican Republic-based aluminum extruder. The court found that CBP's determination, which prohibited the entry of Kingtom's aluminum extrusions under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, was arbitrary and capricious because it lacked a satisfactory explanation and did not provide a rational connection between the facts found and the agency's decision. The public administrative record and Federal Register notice contained only conclusory statements and failed to cite specific evidence or describe the circumstances of the investigation, distinguishing this case from prior decisions where agencies provided at least a minimal factual basis.
Judge Timothy M. Reif emphasized that administrative agencies must articulate clear and reasoned grounds for enforcement actions, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act. In this case, the court determined that neither the heavily redacted administrative record nor CBP's published finding met the legal standard for adequate explanation. As a result, the court vacated the forced labor finding against Kingtom and remanded the matter to CBP for further explanation or reconsideration. CBP is required to file a remand redetermination within 90 days, after which the parties will have an opportunity to comment.
Notably, this was the first time CBP issued a direct finding without escalating the enforcement action from a Withhold Release Order (WRO). The difference between a WRO and a Finding is that for a Finding, there is conclusive evidence that the goods are made with forced labor. In this action, the Finding was issued without giving the company an opportunity to respond or provide evidence to the contrary.
The lack of an explanation here and the CIT's requirement that reasoning be provided moving forward means that CBP will be required to explain Findings in the future, which will offer importers an even clearer blueprint of the risk signals and indicators to which CBP pays attention when investigating and assessing a party.
Crowell continues to monitor developments in the Forced Labor space and their impact on industry.
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