Stevia Importer Says It Settled Forced Labor Allegations to Avoid 'Extensive Litigation'

The stevia importer that paid CBP $575,000 over allegations of using forced labor (see 2008140016) said the payment was the result of a settlement with the agency and didn't include any admission of guilt. CBP touted the enforcement action against PureCircle U.S.A. as the first such penalty the agency issued since the forced labor laws were changed in 2016. “Rather than engage in extensive litigation requiring travel to China during the COVID-19 pandemic to challenge the penalty notices, PureCircle instead settled the matter with the U.S. government for less than 7% of the amount sought by CBP in penalties,” the company said in a news release Aug. 14.

PureCircle LLC, the Malaysian parent company of PureCircle U.S.A., was previously subject to a withhold release order on stevia but said in 2017 that it had been removed from the order after submitting documentation, including a third-party audit, that it did not import stevia produced using forced labor (see 1701300029). “The merchandise covered by this civil penalty was imported into the United States prior to 2016,” a CBP spokesperson said. “On January 26, 2017, CBP modified and removed PureCircle LLC from the Withhold Release Order on stevia and its derivatives. The removal of PureCircle LLC from the Withhold Release Order in 2017 had no effect on imports prior to 2016, which were subject to the penalty.”

The company provided further details on the timeline involved in its news release. “In December 2019, CBP issued penalty notices pertaining to a fraction of PureCircle’s stevia product imports (only twenty out of hundreds from 2014 to early 2016, all of which occurred prior to the issuance of the original Withhold Release Order),” the company said. “PureCircle vigorously contested the claims raised in those notices and submitted additional information to CBP to again establish forced labor was not used to manufacture those products. No action was taken against any of the other shipments made during this period nor any subsequent shipments.”

PureCircle said its settlement didn't include an admission of liability and the company's investigation “has never found evidence of PureCircle having purchased stevia produced by forced labor at any point in time.”