[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3812 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3812

  To impose certain sanctions on countries that do not prohibit child 
                                 labor.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 12, 1996

Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Moran, 
  Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 
  Relations, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and 
    Banking and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To impose certain sanctions on countries that do not prohibit child 
                                 labor.

    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 ``International Child Labor 
Elimination Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the 
        Rights of the Child recognizes ``the right of the child to be 
        protected from economic exploitation and from performing any 
        work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the 
        child's education or to be harmful to the child's health or 
        physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.''.
            (2) Article 2 of the International Labor Organization 
        Convention 138, the Minimum Age Convention, states that the 
        minimum age for admission to employment or work ``shall not be 
        less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in 
        any case, shall not be less than 15 years.''.
            (3) International Labor Organization Convention 29, the 
        Forced Labor Convention, which has been in effect since 1930, 
        prohibits most forms of ``forced or compulsory labor'', 
        including all forced labor by people under the age of 18.
            (4) Although it is among the most universally condemned of 
        all human rights abuses, child labor is widely practiced. The 
        International Labor Organization has estimated the total number 
        of child workers to be between 100,000,000 and 200,000,000. 
        More than 95 percent of those child workers live in developing 
        countries.
            (5) The International Labor Organization has estimated that 
        13.2 percent of all 10-to-14 year olds around the world were 
        economically active in 1995. There are no reliable figures on 
        workers under 10 years of age, though their numbers are known 
        to be significant. Reliable child labor statistics are not 
        readily available, in part because many governments in the 
        developing world are reluctant to document those activities, 
        which are often illegal under domestic laws, which violate 
        international standards, and which may be perceived as a 
        failure of internal public policy.
            (6) Notwithstanding international and domestic 
        prohibitions, many children in developing countries are forced 
        to work as debt-bonded and slave laborers in hazardous and 
        exploitative industries. According to the United Nations 
        Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the 
        International Labor Organization, there are tens of millions of 
        child slaves in the world today. Large numbers of those slaves 
        are involved in agricultural and domestic labor, the sex 
        industry, the carpet and textile industries, and quarrying and 
        brick making.
            (7) In many countries, children lack either the legal 
        standing or the means to protect themselves from cruelty and 
        exploitation in the workplace.
            (8) The employment of children often interferes with the 
        opportunities of such children for basic education. 
        Furthermore, where it coexists with high rates of adult 
        unemployment, the use of child labor likely denies gainful 
        employment to millions of adults.
            (9) While child labor is a vast, complex, and multifaceted 
        phenomenon that is tied to issues of poverty, educational 
        opportunity, and culture, its most abusive and hazardous forms 
        are repugnant to basic human rights and must be eliminated.

SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES AND INDUSTRIES THAT USE 
              CHILD LABOR IN PRODUCING GOODS.

    (a) Identification of Countries and Industries.--The Secretary of 
Labor shall, not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, and not later than the end of each 1-year period thereafter, 
identify those foreign countries that do not prohibit child labor, or 
that have laws prohibiting child labor but do not effectively enforce 
them, and those industries in such countries in which child labor is 
used. The Secretary may revoke the identification of a country or an 
industry before the end of the 1-year period during which the 
identification would otherwise be effective, if revocation is warranted 
by new information or a change in the laws or practices of a country.
    (b) Sanctions.--The sanctions set forth in sections 4 and 5 shall 
apply with respect to those countries and industries identified under 
subsection (a) for so long as the identification is effective under 
such subsection.
    (c) Exemption.--The prohibition on imports under section 4(a), the 
prohibition under section 5(a)(1) on financing under the Export-Import 
Bank Act of 1945, and the prohibition on multilateral assistance under 
section 5(a)(2) shall not apply to a business entity if it is 
established to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that no goods 
produced by that entity are products of child labor.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTS.

    (a) Prohibition.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall prohibit the 
entry of any manufactured article that is a product of an industry 
identified under section 3(a).
    (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to the entry of a 
manufactured article--
            (1) that is entered under any subheading in subchapter IV 
        or VI of chapter 98 (relating to personal exemptions) of the 
        Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States; or
            (2) that was exported from the foreign country in which the 
        industry concerned is located and was en route to the United 
        States before the first day on which the identification of the 
        country and industry was effective.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES THAT USE CHILD 
              LABOR IN PRODUCING GOODS.

    (a) Prohibition on Assistance.--
            (1) Bilateral assistance.--The President may not provide 
        United States assistance to a foreign country identified by the 
        Secretary of Labor under section 3(a).
            (2) Multilateral assistance.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall instruct the United States Executive Director of each 
        international financial institution to use the voice and vote 
        of the United States to oppose any loan or other utilization of 
        the funds of their respective institution to or for any 
        industry identified by the Secretary of Labor under section 
        3(a).
    (b) Exception.--A foreign country or an industry identified by the 
Secretary of Labor under section 3(a) may receive United States 
assistance if the President determines and certifies to the Congress 
that it is in the vital national interest of the United States to 
provide such assistance to such country or industry, as the case may 
be. The President shall include in any such certification--
            (1) a full and complete description of the vital national 
        interest of the United States that is placed at risk if such 
        assistance is not provided to such country or industry; and
            (2) a statement weighing the risk described in paragraph 
        (1) against the risk posed to the vital national interest of 
        the United States by the failure of such country to adopt or 
        enforce laws prohibiting child labor or by the use of child 
        labor by such industry, as the case may be.

SEC. 6. PENALTIES.

    (a) Unlawful Acts.--It is unlawful--
            (1) to attempt to enter any manufactured article that is a 
        product of an industry if the entry is prohibited under section 
        4(a); or
            (2) to violate any regulation prescribed under section 7.
    (b) Civil Penalty.--Any person who commits any unlawful act set 
forth in subsection (a) is liable for a civil penalty of not to exceed 
$25,000.
    (c) Criminal Penalty.--In addition to being liable for a civil 
penalty under subsection (b), any person who intentionally commits any 
unlawful act set forth in subsection (a) is, upon conviction, liable 
for a fine of not less than $10,000 and not more than $35,000, or 
imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both.
    (d) Construction.--The violations set forth in subsection (a) shall 
be treated as violations of the customs laws for purposes of applying 
the enforcement provisions of the Tariff Act of 1930, including--
            (1) the search, seizure, and forfeiture provisions;
            (2) section 592 (relating to penalties for entry by fraud, 
        gross negligence, or negligence); and
            (3) section 619 (relating to compensation to informers).

SEC. 7. REGULATIONS.

    The President shall issue such regulations as are necessary to 
carry out this Act.

SEC. 8. UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENTAL ALTERNATIVES FOR 
              UNDERAGE CHILD WORKERS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the President the sum of 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1997 through 2001 for a United 
States contribution to the International Labor Organization for the 
activities of the International Program on the Elimination of Child 
Labor.

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) Child labor.--The term ``child labor'' means--
                    (A) services performed by an individual who has not 
                attained the age at which children complete compulsory 
                schooling under the national laws of the country 
                concerned, or the age of 15, whichever age is older, 
                except for services performed on a part-time basis by 
                an individual 14 years of age or older that does not 
                interfere with the individual's health or education, 
                and
                    (B) services performed by an individual under the 
                age of 18 that would likely jeopardize the health, 
                safety, or moral character of a young person,
        in exchange for remuneration (regardless to whom paid), 
        subsistence, goods or services, or any combination thereof, or 
        under circumstances tantamount to involuntary servitude.
            (2) Product of child labor.--A manufactured article shall 
        be treated as being a product of child labor if the article--
                    (A) was fabricated, assembled, or processed, in 
                whole or part,
                    (B) contains any part that was fabricated, 
                assembled, or processed, in whole or in part, or
                    (C) was mined, quarried, pumped, or otherwise 
                extracted,
        with child labor.
            (3) Entered and entry.--The terms ``entered'' and ``entry'' 
        mean entry, or withdrawal from warehouse for consumption, in 
        the customs territory of the United States.
            (4) Business entity.--The term ``business entity''--
                    (A) means any entity that produces a manufactured 
                article in a foreign country; and
                    (B) includes, but is not limited to, entities owned 
                or controlled in whole or in part by the government of 
                a foreign country.
            (5) Foreign country.--The term ``foreign country'' means 
        any foreign country and any possession or territory of a 
        foreign country that is administered separately for customs 
        purposes (and includes any designated zone within such country, 
        possession, or territory).
            (6) International financial institution.--The term 
        ``international financial institution'' means the International 
        Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International 
        Development Association, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee 
        Agency, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian 
        Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the African 
        Development Fund, the International Monetary Fund, the European 
        Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International 
        Finance Corporation.
            (7) Manufactured article.--The term ``manufactured 
        article'' means any good that is fabricated, assembled, or 
        processed. The term also includes any mineral resource 
        (including any mineral fuel) that is entered in a crude state. 
        Any mineral resource that at entry has been subjected to only 
        washing, crushing, grinding, powdering, levigation, sifting, 
        screening, or concentration by flotation, magnetic separation, 
        or other mechanical or physical processes shall be treated as 
        having been processed for the purposes of this Act.
            (8) United states assistance.--The term ``United States 
        assistance'' means--
                    (A) any assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act 
                of 1961 (including programs under title IV of chapter 2 
                of part I of such Act, relating to the Overseas Private 
                Investment Corporation), other than--
                            (i) disaster relief assistance, including 
                        any assistance under chapter 9 of part I of 
                        such Act;
                            (ii) assistance which involves the 
                        provision of food (including monetization of 
                        food) or medicine; and
                            (iii) assistance for refugees;
                    (B) sales, or financing on any terms, under the 
                Arms Export Control Act;
                    (C) the provision of agricultural commodities, 
                other than food, under the Agricultural Trade 
                Development and Assistance Act of 1954; and
                    (D) financing under the Export-Import Bank Act of 
                1945.
            (9) United states assistance to a foreign country.--The 
        term ``United States assistance to a foreign country'' includes 
        any sales, financing, or other assistance described in 
        subsection (8) to or for programs, projects, business ventures, 
        or other activities in the foreign country, whether or not such 
        assistance is received by the government of the foreign 
        country.
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