[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 910 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 910

   To require the Secretary of State to establish a set of voluntary 
   guidelines to promote socially responsible business practices for 
        United States businesses operating in foreign countries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 1995

   Mr. Evans (for himself, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Brown of California, Mr. 
 DeFazio, Mr. Conyers, Mrs. Schroeder, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Ms. 
 Pelosi, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Frost, Mr. McHale, 
    Mr. Serrano, Mr. Romero-Barcelo, Mrs. Collins of Illinois, Mr. 
  Abercrombie, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Hilliard, Mr. Olver, Mr. Vento, Mr. 
 Watt of North Carolina, Ms. Woolsey, Ms. Velazquez, and Mr. Sanders) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Secretary of State to establish a set of voluntary 
   guidelines to promote socially responsible business practices for 
        United States businesses operating in foreign countries.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) in the 1990s and beyond, capital, technology, and 
        services are and will be easily transferred anywhere in the 
        world without due regard for national boundaries and 
        governmental policies, especially those pertaining to 
        fundamental labor, environmental, and agricultural standards;
            (2) multinational corporations now play a major role in the 
        conduct of international trade and investment among all 
        nations, yet multinational corporations are not accountable in 
        important ways to any national governments or international 
        organizations and are not bound by any universal international 
        agreements or standards of conduct;
            (3) increasingly, multinational corporations are crucial 
        agents of commerce and investment between developed and 
        developing countries, wielding great influence over whatever 
        national standards exist in respective countries pertaining to 
        socially responsible investment;
            (4) some multinational corporations, including some based 
        in the United States, have adopted voluntary codes of conduct 
        governing all aspects of their operations with a view toward 
        promoting socially responsible investment; and
            (5) there already exist some promising precedents of 
        corporate codes of conduct for multinational corporations 
        which, if widely adhered to and enforced, could facilitate 
        socially responsible business operations worldwide and reduce 
        pressures to enhance competitiveness by ignoring fundamental 
        labor, environmental, and agricultural standards where they 
        exist.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.

    (a) Responsibility of Secretary of State.--The Secretary of State, 
in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, 
the heads of appropriate Federal departments and agencies, labor 
representatives, representatives of businesses with operations abroad, 
and appropriate nonprofit organizations, shall establish guidelines 
which United States nationals should use in conducting business 
operations anywhere in the territory of any foreign country.
    (b) Contents of Guidelines.--The guidelines established under 
subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be based on the principles 
contained in the following:
            (1) The ``Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises'' of the 
        Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
            (2) The ``Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning 
        Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy'' of the 
        International Labor Organization.
            (3) The child labor standards established by the 
        International Labor Organization.
            (4) The standards regarding prison labor that are contained 
        in Article XX of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
            (5) The so-called ``MacBride Principles'', ``Sullivan 
        Principles'', and ``Slepak Principles''.
            (6) The so-called ``Minnesota Principles'' or ``Caux 
        Principles''.
As used in paragraph (4), the term ``General Agreement on Tariffs and 
Trade'' refers to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade annexed to 
the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization that was 
entered into on April 15, 1994.
    (c) Effective Date.--The guidelines established under subsection 
(a) shall be published in the Federal Register and shall take effect 6 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE.

    (a) Submission of Statements.--Not later than 1 year after the 
effective date described in section 2(c), and not later than the end of 
each 1-year period thereafter, each United States national that 
conducts business operations, directly or through a foreign subsidiary 
or contractor, in any foreign country shall submit a statement to the 
Secretary of State, in such form as the Secretary of State shall 
prescribe, indicating whether or not such national, in conducting such 
business operations, is complying with the guidelines.
    (b) Registration.--
            (1) Requirement.--The Secretary of State shall require 
        United States nationals subject to the requirement of 
        subsection (a) to file with the Secretary a registration with 
        respect to their business operations in foreign countries. Such 
        registration shall include the name of the business operations 
        in each foreign country, and the location and chief officers of 
        such business operations. No fee shall be required for 
        registration under this subsection.
            (2) Effective date.--The registration requirement of 
        paragraph (1) shall take effect 6 months after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
    (c) Hearings.--The Secretary of State shall conduct public hearings 
at least once each year on the compliance with the guidelines of United 
States nationals subject to the requirement of subsection (a). The 
Secretary shall provide interested persons with an opportunity to 
testify at such hearings.
    (d) Annual Report.--The Secretary of State shall submit a report to 
the Congress describing the level of compliance with the guidelines by 
United States nationals subject to the requirement of subsection (a). 
This report shall be submitted not later than 18 months after the date 
of the enactment of this Act and not later than the end of each 1-year 
period occurring thereafter.

SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.

    (a) Support.--Departments and agencies of the United States may 
intercede with a foreign government or foreign national regarding 
export marketing activity in a foreign country on behalf of a United 
States national subject to the requirement of section 3(a) only if that 
United States national complies with the guidelines.
    (b) Type of Contact.--The term ``intercede with a foreign 
government or foreign national'' includes any contact by an officer or 
employee of the United States with officials of any foreign government 
or foreign national involving or contemplating any effort to assist in 
selling a good, service, or technology in a foreign country. Such term 
does not include multilateral or bilateral government-to-government 
trade negotiations intended to resolve trade issues which may affect 
United States nationals who do not comply with the guidelines.
    (c) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall take effect 18 months 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the terms ``comply with the guidelines'', ``complying 
        with the guidelines'' and ``compliance with the guidelines'' 
        mean--
                    (A) implementing the guidelines established under 
                section 2(a) by taking good faith measures with respect 
                to each such guideline; and
                    (B) reporting accurately to the Department of State 
                on the measures taken to implement those principles;
            (2) the term ``business operations'' refers to a for-profit 
        activity, but does not include a small business concern as 
        defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
        632); and
            (3) the term ``United States national'' means--
                    (A) a citizen or national of the United States or a 
                permanent resident of the United States; and
                    (B) a corporation, partnership, and other business 
                association organized under the laws of the United 
                States, any State or territory thereof, the District of 
                Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

SEC. 6. REGULATIONS.

    The Secretary of State may issue such regulations as are necessary 
to carry out this Act.
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