Avoid Child Labor in Smallholder Supply Chains [Customs Compliance Series]

Federal statute 19 U.S.C. 1307 prohibits the importation of merchandise mined, manufactured, or produced, wholly or in part, by forced labor, including convict labor, forced child labor, and indentured labor.

As US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) steps up seizures of goods suspected of being produced through forced labor, and US government and NGO's call for investigations of cocoa importing companies, we are introducing a streamlined solution for managing supply chain due diligence so that importers can quickly and effectively report on their own supply chains’ human rights compliance. Built on our Responsible Cocoa Platform architecture, the Sourcemap Human Rights module includes a number of industry firsts:

• Centralized supplier due diligence management down to the farmer and farmer organization level

• Automated risk assessment and supplier scores for managing continuous improvement

• Cross-referencing of supply chain maps against databases of risk

• Exception and fraud detection

All of this is available on-demand through an easy-to-use database interface, which means that in the unlikely event that CBP has any questions you can instantly produce a report that validates your human rights compliance for any shipment received.

The Human Rights Module is available for cocoa companies starting in July 2020, and will be expanded to additional commodities including rubber and palm in August - stay tuned.