FGV progresses in efforts to modify the U.S. WRO

KUALA LUMPUR, 10 January: FGV Holdings Berhad (FGV) continues to make good progress in its efforts to modify the Withhold Release Order (WRO) issued by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

FGV has given top priority to implement a remediation plan to uphold labour rights and address any gaps in its labour practices. A key component of FGV’s remediation programme is the reimbursement of recruitment fees imposed on its migrant workers by third-party recruitment agencies.

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FGV on ethical, responsible recruitment

In line with its commitment to ethical and responsible recruitment standards and the principle of ‘no recruitment fee’ for workers, FGV has allocated a total of RM112 million to reimburse recruitment fees to its migrant workers, including former migrant workers.

The reimbursements to workers were made in three tranches that were paid in March, June, and September 2023 respectively. To date, a total of RM72.2 million has been reimbursed to 19,673 workers.

WROs, issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), direct CBP’s Port Directors at ports of entry—places where one may lawfully enter a country and/or import goods—to detain a shipment of goods.

“FGV is fully committed to the principle of ‘no recruitment fee for workers’. We have made every effort towards ensuring that our recruitment procedures are aligned with ethical recruitment standards,” says Dato’ Nazrul Mansor, Group Chief Executive Officer of FGV.

FGV has also strengthened its procedures for the recruitment of migrant workers by instituting additional measures including engaging LRQA to conduct surveys among the newly recruited workers to ascertain if they had paid any recruitment fees.

Upon completion of the reimbursement programme for its current workers, FGV appointed LRQA, formerly known as ELEVATE to conduct a verification of the reimbursement exercise.