[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2574 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2574

    To provide for principles on workers' rights for United States 
 companies doing business in the People's Republic of China and Tibet.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 17, 2000

Mr. Torricelli introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for principles on workers' rights for United States 
 companies doing business in the People's Republic of China and Tibet.

    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 ``Workers' Rights Principles for 
United States Businesses in China Act''.

SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.

    (a) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to establish principles 
on workers' rights for United States companies that do business in the 
People's Republic of China and in Tibet.
    (b) Principles.--It is the sense of Congress that any United States 
company doing business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet 
shall, within its facilities and those of its suppliers in the People's 
Republic of China or Tibet, do the following:
            (1) Prohibit the manufacture of goods or products by bonded 
        labor or forced labor within prison camps or as part of reform-
        through-labor or reeducation-through-labor programs.
            (2) Provide wages that meet workers' basic needs and 
        provide fair and decent working hours, including at a minimum, 
        adhering to the wage and hour guidelines under the national 
        labor laws and policies of the People's Republic of China.
            (3) Use production methods that do not negatively affect 
        the occupational safety and health of workers.
            (4) Prohibit the use of corporal punishment, as well as any 
        physical, sexual, or verbal abuse or harassment, of workers.
            (5) Refrain from seeking police or military intervention to 
        prevent workers from exercising their rights.
            (6) Promote the following freedoms among their employees 
        and the employees of their suppliers: freedom of association 
        and assembly (including the right to form unions and to bargain 
        collectively); freedom of expression; and freedom from 
        arbitrary arrest or detention.
            (7) Prohibit discrimination in hiring, remuneration, or 
        promotion based on age, gender, marital status, pregnancy, 
        ethnicity, or region of origin.
            (8) Prohibit discrimination in hiring, remuneration, or 
        promotion based on labor, political, or religious activity, on 
        involvement in demonstrations, past records of arrests or 
        internal exile for peaceful protest, or on membership in 
        organizations committed to nonviolent social or political 
        change.
            (9) Use environmentally responsible methods of production 
        that have minimal adverse impact on land, air, and water 
        quality.
            (10) Prohibit child labor, including at a minimum, 
        complying with guidelines on minimum age for employment under 
        the national labor laws of the People's Republic of China.
    (c) Promotion of Principles by Other Nations.--The Secretary of 
State shall forward a copy of the principles set forth in subsection 
(b) to each member nation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation 
and Development and encourage such nation to promote principles similar 
to such principles.

SEC. 3. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.

    (a) Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--Each United States company conducting 
        business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet shall 
        register with the Secretary of State and indicate whether such 
        company agrees to implement the principles set forth in section 
        2(b).
            (2) Prohibition on fee.--No fee shall be required for 
        purposes of registration under paragraph (1).
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall take effect 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Reports by United States Companies.--
            (1) In general.--Each United States company conducting 
        business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet shall 
        submit to the Secretary of State a report describing such 
        company's adherence to the principles set forth in section 2(b) 
        during the one-year period ending on the date of such report.
            (2) Form.--The report shall be submitted on a form 
        furnished by the Secretary.
            (3) Submittal dates.--A United States company shall submit 
        the report required by paragraph (1) not later than one year 
        after the date on which the company registers under section 3 
        and annually thereafter.
    (b) Review of Reports.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall review each report 
        submitted under subsection (a) to determine whether the United 
        States company submitting such report is adhering to the 
        principles set forth in section 2(b).
            (2) Additional information.--The Secretary may request 
        additional information from a United States company for 
        purposes of the review of its report under this subsection, and 
        may use other sources of information to verify the information 
        contained in such report.
    (c) Annual Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall 
submit to Congress and to the Secretariat of the Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development a report assessing the adherence 
of United States companies subject to the reporting requirement in 
subsection (a) to the principles set forth in section 2(b). Each report 
shall cover the one-year period ending on the date of such report.

SEC. 5. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.

    (a) Support.--A department or agency of the United States 
Government may intercede with a foreign government or foreign national 
regarding export marketing activity in the People's Republic of China 
or Tibet on behalf of a United States company subject to the reporting 
requirement in section 4(a) only if the United States company adheres 
to the principles set forth in section 2(b).
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (a) shall take effect two years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. ANNUAL PUBLIC HEARING ON ADHERENCE OF UNITED STATES COMPANIES 
              TO PRINCIPLES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
shall conduct a public hearing on the adherence of United States 
companies doing business in the People's Republic of China or Tibet to 
the principles set forth in section 2(b).
    (b) Hearing Requirements.--The Secretary shall conduct each hearing 
under subsection (a) in an appropriate forum and in a manner intended 
to facilitate widespread public participation in the hearing.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Adhere.--The terms ``adhere to'', ``adhering to'', and 
        ``adherence to'', in the case of the principles set forth in 
        section 2(b), mean--
                    (A) agreeing to implement the principles;
                    (B) implementing the principles by taking good 
                faith measures with respect to each principle; and
                    (C) reporting accurately to the Secretary of State 
                on the measures taken to implement the principles.
            (2) Intercede with a foreign government or foreign 
        national.--
                    (A) In general.--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 the 
                People's Republic of China or Tibet.
                    (B) Exclusion.--The term does not include 
                multilateral or bilateral government-to-government 
                trade negotiations intended to resolve trade issues 
                which may affect United States parent companies which 
                do not adhere to the principles set forth in section 
                2(b).
            (3) Organized under the laws of the united states.--The 
        term ``organized under the laws of the United States'' means 
        organized under the laws of the United States, any State of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        or any other territory or possession of the United States.
            (4) United states company.--The term ``United States 
        company'' means a corporation, partnership, or other business 
        association organized under the laws of the United States.
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