[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2749 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2749

   To prohibit the transportation in interstate commerce or from any 
foreign country into the United States of services provided by convicts 
                 or prisoners, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 1993

 Mr. Gonzalez submitted the following bill; which was referred jointly 
         to the Committees on Ways and Means and the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To prohibit the transportation in interstate commerce or from any 
foreign country into the United States of services provided by convicts 
                 or prisoners, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Convict Service Labor Prohibition 
Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States exists in a changed international 
        economic environment;
            (2) one part of this changed market place is an increase in 
        international trade and an advocacy by many policy makers and 
        many in the private sector of so-called free trade, based on 
        the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, a 
        major manifestation of which is the negotiation of a North 
        American Free Trade Agreement;
            (3) although expanded trade may provide increased economic 
        opportunity for some segments of the United States society, it 
        may also cause the loss of thousands of United States jobs. As 
        United States companies move their operations out of the United 
        States to take advantage of labor that costs as little as one-
        tenth of the wages of United States workers, the well-being of 
        working people across the United States is threatened;
            (4) another part of the changed United States market place 
        is the greatly increased importance of the service sector and 
        of service-based jobs in the United States;
            (5) the United States Customs Service ruled on July 15, 
        1992, in a case involving the sorting of coupons by Mexican 
        prisoners in a maquiladora operation that existing Federal law 
        does not prohibit the importation of goods upon which services 
        were performed by forced, convict or prison labor;
            (6) the Customs Service ruling of July 15, 1992, allows the 
        performance of a wide range of service activities, including 
        laundry cleaning, auto repair, appliance repair, and many 
        others, by prisoners in Mexico and other countries, possibly 
        even including some assembly operations that make up so much of 
        the so-called off-shore enterprises;
            (7) the Customs Service ruling of July 15, 1992, will cost 
        thousands of additional United States jobs as international 
        trade continues to expand and U.S. companies continue to take 
        advantage of low-waged labor, including imprisoned workers, 
        against which United States workers cannot compete; and
            (8) existing Federal trade law is intended to protect 
        United States workers from the unfair foreign competition of 
        work done in other countries by forced, convict or prison 
        labor; however, in light of the Customs Service ruling of July 
        15, 1992, existing Federal law is clearly inadequate to protect 
        United States workers.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to amend and enhance 
Federal law protections for United States jobs by prohibiting the 
importation into the United States from any other country goods on 
which services were performed by convicts or prisoners, and by 
establishing penalties for violation of this Act.

SEC. 3. TRANSPORTING OR IMPORTING GOODS MADE BY OR SERVICES PROVIDED BY 
              CONVICTS OR PRISONERS.

    Section 1761 of title 18, United States Code, is amended in 
subsection (a) by inserting after ``mined,'' the following: ``or on 
which services were performed,''.

SEC. 4. FAILURE TO MARK PACKAGES MADE BY AND IDENTIFY SERVICES PROVIDED 
              BY CONVICTS OR PRISONERS.

    Section 1762(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after ``mined,'' the following: ``or on which services were 
performed,''.

SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT OF PROHIBITION AGAINST IMPORTATION OF CONVICT-MADE 
              GOODS.

    Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``All goods'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General--All goods'';
            (2) in subsection (a) (as designated by paragraph (a) of 
        this subsection)--
                    (A) by inserting after ``manufactured'' the 
                following: ``, or on which services are performed,''; 
                and
                    (B) by striking the second sentence;
            (3) by striking ```Forced Labor,'''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(c) Penalties.--
            ``(1) In general.--Any person who--
                    ``(A) enters or imports, or attempts to enter or 
                import, goods, wares, articles, or merchandise into the 
                customs territory of the United States in violation of 
                subsection (a); and
                    ``(B) knew or should have known that such entry or 
                importation, or attempted entry or importation, was in 
                violation of such subsection, shall be liable to pay to 
                the United States a civil penalty.
            ``(2) Amount of penalty.--Any civil penalty imposed under 
        paragraph (1) shall be in an amount not to exceed--
                    ``(A) $10,000 for one violation;
                    ``(B) $100,000 in the case of a person previously 
                subject to a penalty for one violation under this 
                section; or
                    ``(C) $1,000,000 in the case of a person previously 
                subject to penalties for more than one violation under 
                this section.
            ``(3) Regulations required.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall by regulation, within one year of the date of enactment 
        of this Act, prescribe procedures for imposing penalties under 
        this section, including, but not limited to, prepenalty 
        notice.''.

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