Today we learned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will once again allow latex gloves produced by Top Glove in Malaysia to be imported into the U.S.  Their import was blocked under a Withhold Release Order starting in July of 2020, especially notable given the shortages of PPE the country has experienced during this ongoing pandemic, due to "indicators" of forced labor in the production of the gloves in Top Glove's plant in Malaysia.

The most important line from the U.S. CBP press release, in my view, is the following: “Top Glove’s actions in response to the Withhold Release Order, which include issuing more than $30 million in remediation payments to workers and improving labor and living conditions at the company’s facilities, suggest that CBP’s enforcement efforts provide a strong economic incentive for entities to eliminate forced labor from their supply chains.” 

So, does this mean Top Glove had "underpaid" their workers to the tune of $30M and were working in poor living conditions? I would say those qualify as more than "indicators" of forced labor, myself.  That sounds like evidence of forced labor if not an outright admission of it's presence. 

One wonders whether the modification of the order to allow import is the only penalty Top Glove will experience.  Does a U.S. CBP Withhold Release order provide protection from double jeopardy?  Would be interesting to know whether Top Glove has operations or customers in the U.K. and what the implications of this remediation might have under the UK Modern Slavery Act. Does "remediation" amount to an admission against interest, I wonder?  Interesting.