IPOH, Oct 7 — WRP Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd claims that they were left in the dark over the recent ban imposed on their goods by the United States’ (US) Customs and Border Protection (CBP), after the goods were alleged to have been made using forced labour.
The firm’s chief executive officer’s personal assistant ES Yeong said that the company was surprised with the CBP’s detention order on its surgical gloves and only learnt about it last Tuesday.
“Regretfully, we had no notice from CBP of any issues prior to today and they have never visited our factory to gain any first-hand knowledge of the working environment at WRP,” he responded via an email written to Malay Mail.
WRP exports speciality sterile surgical glove products to the US, which takes up not less than 12 per cent of the total market share of the US surgical sterile glove market.
Last week, it was reported that CBP has blocked the import of goods suspected to have been made with forced labour from five countries, including the surgical gloves made by WRP in Malaysia, following a rare crackdown on slave labour abroad.
CBP said it seized five different products based on information indicating the goods were made using slave labour overseas.
The other items included clothing from China, diamonds from Zimbabwe, gold mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and bone black — charred animal bones — manufactured in Brazil.
Under a 2016 law, it is illegal to import goods into the United States that are made entirely or in part by forced labour — which includes prison work, bonded labour and child labour.
Yeong said the firm is fully cooperating with CBP to resolve any concerns which it may have as quickly as possible.
“We are now working closely with our US attorney to provide information and evidence to CBP immediately of our compliance with all US regulations regarding the forced labor accusation.
“We are convinced that CBP will agree that WRP gloves are not produced in an environment with forced labor of any type,” he added.
Yeong also said the firm takes its corporate and social responsibility (CSR) very seriously and have stringent policies in place to ensure they are in compliance with all applicable global requirements.
“We have undergone many independent and customer-driven CSR audits with passing grades and we are working for continued improvements. We are proud of the working environment we provide to our workers,” he said.
Yeong also said WRP is seeking assistance from the relevant ministry in Malaysia to connect it with the US counterpart to refute certain claims by the media.
“With this we hope CBP and the media will get the most accurate information about us. It is the utmost importance that correct and accurate information is released to all related parties.
“We have noted that there are many outdated news reports and unfounded allegations from many website links worldwide after this order was released by CBP,” he said.
Following media reports on the firm’s CSR compliance, which started last year, Yeong said WRP has since registered with the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX), a web-based system designed to help organisations manage data on labor practices.
“WRP also voluntarily performing independent audits to ensure it compliance with the CSR set by their customers on a global scale,” he added.
