IT will take at least a year for Malaysian companies to get an outcome on lifting the Withhold Release Order (WRO) imposed by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Awang Hashim said today.

The deputy human resources minister said to date, two companies have been delisted from the WRO.

However, he declined to release the names of the companies that are listed under the WRO. 

“We will be using the methods that were implemented by the two companies to get themselves released from the WRO (for other companies),” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

“It will take at least one year to investigate what has not been fulfilled. We are getting good cooperation from the companies for us to take action.”

Awang (Pendang-PAS) was replying to R. Sivarasa (Sungai Buloh-PH) who asked the government to state the names and business fields of Malaysian companies that have been subject to a WRO by the CBP from 2019 until now. 

He also wants to know the actions taken by the government to ensure the notice of finding issued to Sime Darby Berhad on January 28 will be withdrawn by the CBP.

In 2020, Sime Darby was penalised by US authorities over allegations of using forced labour. 

The CBP had issued the WRO for palm oil and products containing palm oil produced by the company after finding its production process to have “all 11 of the International Labour Organization’s forced labour indicators”.

Awang said they have listed and are addressing the 11 criteria with the US on the matter.

“We will be using all the set criteria to ensure forced labour and human trafficking will not happen in Malaysia,” he said

The CBP had stated that its staff at all US ports of entry will hold palm oil and any item containing palm oil manufactured by Sime Darby and connected businesses in Malaysia.

Companies subjected to the WRO may either reroute their shipments and sell their products elsewhere or try to persuade the CBP to change its mind by providing proof the goods were not manufactured in slave-like conditions. – July 28, 2022.