WASHINGTON (BRAIN) Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday said it is detaining bikes, bike parts and accessories made by Giant in Taiwan because of allegations of forced-labor use. The ruling appears to apply to products sold under Giant's brands or produced by Giant in Taiwan for other brands.

CBP said that under a 2011 law it can prohibit goods made with forced labor from entering the U.S.

A spokesman for Giant in Taiwan told BRAIN that the company is preparing an official statement. This article will be updated with their response as soon as possible.

CBP said it identified the following "forced labor indicators during its investigation of Giant:

1. abuse of vulnerability,
2. abusive working and living conditions,
3. debt bondage,
4. withholding of wages, and
5. excessive overtime."

"Giant profited by imposing such abuse, resulting in goods produced below market value and undercutting American businesses by millions of dollars in unjustly earned profits," the CBP statement read. It said importers of detained shipments may request to destroy or export their shipments, or they may seek to demonstrate that the merchandise is admissible."

CBP issued aWithhold Release Order for Giant shipments from Taiwan. The order doesn't appear to apply to shipments from Giant's factories in China or Vietnam. CBP said it was only the third WRO issued this year; the previous two involved a Chinese fishing company and a South Korean salt farm.

In February, Le Monde Diplomatique published an investigative reportthat cited foreign guest workers at Taiwanese bike factories, including Giant, who said they had paid recruiters in their home countries fees of as much as $5,500 to secure work at the factories. Some workers also said that once in Taiwan they had to pay service fees to Taiwanese brokers that amountedto two months wages during their three-year contracts. The news source also found similar fees being paid by workers at Merida, Maxxis, Fritz Jou and other Taiwanese factories. It said Giant committed last year to not hiring workers who had paid the fees.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a nonprofit organization, also published a 2024 report that found allegations of worker fees paid by Giant factory workers. The organization said that, when contacted, Giant did not acknowledge any violations but told the organization, "It is understood that some migrant employees pay recruitment fees to home-country recruiters, but our company is not involved in the negotiation and collection of such fees."

At the Taipei Cycle show in March, the Bicycling Alliance for Sustainability, a Taiwan industry group, said its 82 members, including Giant and other major manufacturers, had committed to the organization's Human Rights Rules of Conduct, which includes signing theInternational Bill of Human Rights.

In 2023, the U.K. news source The Telegraph reported on worker fee violations at a Malaysia factory that is a subcontractor for Shimano's factory in that country. Shimano told BRAIN at the time that it was investigating the report. Le Monde Diplomatique reported in 2024 that foreign workers at the factoryhad been reimbursed $3,000 each were "free from bondage risks," apparently due to pressure from Shimano.