Petaling Jaya, Selangor – The U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) has modified its forced labour finding against Sime Darby Plantation (SDP), one of the largest sustainable palm oil producers in Malaysia, following an extensive review of their practices.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) has engaged with the U.S. authorities throughout 2021 and 2022, alongside SDP and other industry participants, as well as Malaysian government officials.

MPOC held discussions, educational sessions and in-person meetings with the U.S. CBP, U.S. Department of Labor, and State Department. Training programmes were jointly organised in Kuala Lumpur with US CBP for Malaysian palm oil companies to understand and identify forced labour practices.

These new dialogues and channels of communication, which opened following MPOC’s engagement with U.S. opinion-formers, have been a positive platform to share data and facts, and to communicate information to U.S. authorities.

As a company, SDP can be proud of their efforts to demonstrate real change and where necessary, reform & upgrade its protocols for recruiting and managing its workers.

Belvinder Sron, Acting MPOC CEO said, “the Malaysian palm oil sector has taken significant steps to strengthen labour practices throughout its supply chain. The most recent of these is the revised Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standard. The MSPO standard is mandatory and enforced by the government of Malaysia. All Malaysian palm oil companies, across the supply chain, are committed to MSPO’s labour and human rights provisions.

“MPOC looks forward to continuing this dialogue with CBP and other U.S. authorities, and to maintain open communication on these issues of mutual interest,” she added.