[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2475 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2475

    To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit imports of articles 
    produced or manufactured with bonded child labor, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 15, 1997

 Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. Evans, Mr. Rush, 
Mr. Towns, Mr. Stark, Mr. Filner, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Payne, Mr. 
 Manton, and Mrs. Maloney of New York) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition 
    to the Committee on International Relations, 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 amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit imports of articles 
    produced or manufactured with bonded child labor, 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 ``Bonded Child Labor Elimination 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTS OF ARTICLES PRODUCED OR MANUFACTURED 
              WITH BONDED CHILD LABOR.

    Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) is amended--
            (1) in the first paragraph--
                    (A) in the first sentence by inserting ``or/and 
                bonded child labor'' after ``under penal sanctions''; 
                and
                    (B) in the second sentence by striking ``; but in 
                no case'' and all that follows through the end of the 
                sentence and inserting the following: ``. The President 
                may waive the application of this section with respect 
                to particular goods, wares, articles, or merchandise, 
                if the President determines and certifies in writing to 
                the Congress that it is in the national economic 
                interest of the United States to allow the entry into 
                the United States of such goods, wares, articles, or 
                merchandise.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``Bonded child labor,'' as herein used, shall mean all work or 
service--
            ``(1) which is exacted from any person under 15 years of 
        age, either in payment for the debts of a parent, relative, or 
        guardian or drawn under false pretexts; and
            ``(2) to which such person is confined against his or her 
        will.''.

SEC. 3. FOREIGN ASSISTANCE FOR ENFORCEMENT OF BONDED CHILD LABOR LAWS 
              AND REHABILITATION.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--In order to offer assistance 
to foreign countries to improve the enforcement of national laws 
prohibiting bonded child labor and to contribute to the rehabilitation 
of children freed from bonded child labor, there is authorized to be 
appropriated to the President the sum of--
            (1) $100,000 for each of the fiscal years 1998 through 2002 
        for a United States contribution to the United Nations 
        Commission on Human Rights for those activities relating to 
        bonded child labor that are carried out by the Subcommittee and 
        Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery; and
            (2) $1,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1998 through 
        2002 for a United States contribution to the International 
        Labor Organization for the activities of the International 
        Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.
    (b) Definition.--As used in this section, the term ``bonded child 
labor'' has the meaning given that term in section 307 of the Tariff 
Act of 1930, as amended by section 2 of this Act.
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