KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 — The US has only banned rubber gloves from one Malaysian company and not all products manufactured here, the local rubber gloves industry said today.

The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) clarified that the US has not imposed a blanket ban on all rubber gloves produced by Malaysia.

“The fact of the matter is that only gloves from one specific Malaysian company is banned and not Malaysian rubber gloves, as a whole.

“The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has deemed that a particular company to be involved in forced labour and has since banned that company’s goods from entering the USA,” it said in a statement, without naming the banned company.

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MARGMA said Malaysia’s rubber glove manufacturing industry has since last year worked on social compliance initiatives to continuously improve the workers’ welfare.

“We have formed a Social Compliance Committee and organised national seminar under the purview of the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council (MREPC). 

“There is a lot of compliance to be done and there is a lot of work to be carried out to ensure worker’s rights, accommodation and general welfare is protected and for these initiatives, time and expenditure are required and together we have drawn out a program that will make our industry fully in compliance,” it added.

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MARGMA said it has also engaged and updated both the US Embassy and the Department of Labour about the Malaysian rubber glove industry’s efforts in implementing Social Compliance Standards, noting that many US firms regularly check on glove manufacturers.

“MARGMA is taking social compliance very seriously to ensure that the shipments of gloves to the USA and the World are in total compliance. As a matter of comfort, many American companies do carry out periodic audits on the manufacturers to ensure there is compliance,” it said.

The MARGMA statement comes after the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) yesterday announced an import ban on a Malaysian firm’s product through a Withhold Release Order (WRO) that took effect from September 30.

The US agency said it had issued the order based on information indicating the suspected use of forced labour in the manufacturing of the gloves, specifying the order as being against “Disposable rubber gloves produced in Malaysia by WRP Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd; produced with forced labour.”

It is illegal to import goods into the US that are made wholly or partly by forced labour, and US bans via WROs take such products off US shelves.

When such import bans are issued, importers can either re-export the detained shipments at any time or submit information to the US border agency to demonstrate that the products are not in violation of US laws.

Malay Mail has reached out to WRP Asia Pacific for a response to the US agency’s announcement of the ban of its disposable rubber gloves.