[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2330 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.2330

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the seventh day of January, two thousand and three


                                 An Act


 
  To sanction the ruling Burmese military junta, to strengthen Burma's 
   democratic forces and support and recognize the National League of 
 Democracy as the legitimate representative of the Burmese people, 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 ``Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has failed 
    to transfer power to the National League for Democracy (NLD) whose 
    parliamentarians won an overwhelming victory in the 1990 elections 
    in Burma.
        (2) The SPDC has failed to enter into meaningful, political 
    dialogue with the NLD and ethnic minorities and has dismissed the 
    efforts of United Nations Special Envoy Razali bin Ismail to 
    further such dialogue.
        (3) According to the State Department's ``Report to the 
    Congress Regarding Conditions in Burma and U.S. Policy Toward 
    Burma'' dated March 28, 2003, the SPDC has become ``more 
    confrontational'' in its exchanges with the NLD.
        (4) On May 30, 2003, the SPDC, threatened by continued support 
    for the NLD throughout Burma, brutally attacked NLD supporters, 
    killed and injured scores of civilians, and arrested democracy 
    advocate Aung San Suu Kyi and other activists.
        (5) The SPDC continues egregious human rights violations 
    against Burmese citizens, uses rape as a weapon of intimidation and 
    torture against women, and forcibly conscripts child-soldiers for 
    the use in fighting indigenous ethnic groups.
        (6) The SPDC is engaged in ethnic cleansing against minorities 
    within Burma, including the Karen, Karenni, and Shan people, which 
    constitutes a crime against humanity and has directly led to more 
    than 600,000 internally displaced people living within Burma and 
    more than 130,000 people from Burma living in refugee camps along 
    the Thai-Burma border.
        (7) The ethnic cleansing campaign of the SPDC is in sharp 
    contrast to the traditional peaceful coexistence in Burma of 
    Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and people of traditional beliefs.
        (8) The SPDC has demonstrably failed to cooperate with the 
    United States in stopping the flood of heroin and methamphetamines 
    being grown, refined, manufactured, and transported in areas under 
    the control of the SPDC serving to flood the region and much of the 
    world with these illicit drugs.
        (9) The SPDC provides safety, security, and engages in business 
    dealings with narcotics traffickers under indictment by United 
    States authorities, and other producers and traffickers of 
    narcotics.
        (10) The International Labor Organization (ILO), for the first 
    time in its 82-year history, adopted in 2000, a resolution 
    recommending that governments, employers, and workers organizations 
    take appropriate measures to ensure that their relations with the 
    SPDC do not abet the government-sponsored system of forced, 
    compulsory, or slave labor in Burma, and that other international 
    bodies reconsider any cooperation they may be engaged in with Burma 
    and, if appropriate, cease as soon as possible any activity that 
    could abet the practice of forced, compulsory, or slave labor.
        (11) The SPDC has integrated the Burmese military and its 
    surrogates into all facets of the economy effectively destroying 
    any free enterprise system.
        (12) Investment in Burmese companies and purchases from them 
    serve to provide the SPDC with currency that is used to finance its 
    instruments of terror and repression against the Burmese people.
        (13) On April 15, 2003, the American Apparel and Footwear 
    Association expressed its ``strong support for a full and immediate 
    ban on U.S. textiles, apparel and footwear imports from Burma'' and 
    called upon the United States Government to ``impose an outright 
    ban on U.S. imports'' of these items until Burma demonstrates 
    respect for basic human and labor rights of its citizens.
        (14) The policy of the United States, as articulated by the 
    President on April 24, 2003, is to officially recognize the NLD as 
    the legitimate representative of the Burmese people as determined 
    by the 1990 election.
        (15) The United States must work closely with other nations, 
    including Thailand, a close ally of the United States, to highlight 
    attention to the SPDC's systematic abuses of human rights in Burma, 
    to ensure that nongovernmental organizations promoting human rights 
    and political freedom in Burma are allowed to operate freely and 
    without harassment, and to craft a multilateral sanctions regime 
    against Burma in order to pressure the SPDC to meet the conditions 
    identified in section 3(a)(3) of this Act.

SEC. 3. BAN AGAINST TRADE THAT SUPPORTS THE MILITARY REGIME OF BURMA.

    (a) General Ban.--
        (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
    until such time as the President determines and certifies to 
    Congress that Burma has met the conditions described in paragraph 
    (3), beginning 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
    the President shall ban the importation of any article that is a 
    product of Burma.
        (2) Ban on imports from certain companies.--The import 
    restrictions contained in paragraph (1) shall apply to, among other 
    entities--
            (A) the SPDC, any ministry of the SPDC, a member of the 
        SPDC or an immediate family member of such member;
            (B) known narcotics traffickers from Burma or an immediate 
        family member of such narcotics trafficker;
            (C) the Union of Myanmar Economics Holdings Incorporated 
        (UMEHI) or any company in which the UMEHI has a fiduciary 
        interest;
            (D) the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) or any company 
        in which the MEC has a fiduciary interest;
            (E) the Union Solidarity and Development Association 
        (USDA); and
            (F) any successor entity for the SPDC, UMEHI, MEC, or USDA.
        (3) Conditions described.--The conditions described in this 
    paragraph are the following:
            (A) The SPDC has made substantial and measurable progress 
        to end violations of internationally recognized human rights 
        including rape, and the Secretary of State, after consultation 
        with the ILO Secretary General and relevant nongovernmental 
        organizations, reports to the appropriate congressional 
        committees that the SPDC no longer systematically violates 
        workers rights, including the use of forced and child labor, 
        and conscription of child-soldiers.
            (B) The SPDC has made measurable and substantial progress 
        toward implementing a democratic government including--
                (i) releasing all political prisoners;
                (ii) allowing freedom of speech and the press;
                (iii) allowing freedom of association;
                (iv) permitting the peaceful exercise of religion; and
                (v) bringing to a conclusion an agreement between the 
            SPDC and the democratic forces led by the NLD and Burma's 
            ethnic nationalities on the transfer of power to a civilian 
            government accountable to the Burmese people through 
            democratic elections under the rule of law.
            (C) Pursuant to section 706(2) of the Foreign Relations 
        Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 2003 (Public Law 107-228), Burma 
        has not been designated as a country that has failed 
        demonstrably to make substantial efforts to adhere to its 
        obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and 
        to take other effective counternarcotics measures, including, 
        but not limited to (i) the arrest and extradition of all 
        individuals under indictment in the United States for narcotics 
        trafficking, (ii) concrete and measurable actions to stem the 
        flow of illicit drug money into Burma's banking system and 
        economic enterprises, and (iii) actions to stop the manufacture 
        and export of methamphetamines.
        (4) Appropriate congressional committees.--In this subsection, 
    the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the 
    Committees on Foreign Relations and Appropriations of the Senate 
    and the Committees on International Relations and Appropriations of 
    the House of Representatives.
    (b) Waiver Authorities.--The President may waive the prohibitions 
described in this section for any or all articles that are a product of 
Burma if the President determines and notifies the Committees on 
Appropriations, Finance, and Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 
Committees on Appropriations, International Relations, and Ways and 
Means of the House of Representatives that to do so is in the national 
interest of the United States.

SEC. 4. FREEZING ASSETS OF THE BURMESE REGIME IN THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 60 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the President shall take such action as is 
necessary to direct, and promulgate regulations to the same, that any 
United States financial institution holding funds belonging to the SPDC 
or the assets of those individuals who hold senior positions in the 
SPDC or its political arm, the Union Solidarity Development 
Association, shall promptly report those funds or assets to the Office 
of Foreign Assets Control.
    (b) Additional Authority.--The President may take such action as 
may be necessary to impose a sanctions regime to freeze such funds or 
assets, subject to such terms and conditions as the President 
determines to be appropriate.
    (c) Delegation.--The President may delegate the duties and 
authorities under this section to such Federal officers or other 
officials as the President deems appropriate.

SEC. 5. LOANS AT INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

    The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States 
executive director to each appropriate international financial 
institution in which the United States participates, to oppose, and 
vote against the extension by such institution of any loan or financial 
or technical assistance to Burma until such time as the conditions 
described in section 3(a)(3) are met.

SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF VISA BAN.

    (a) In General.--
        (1) Visa ban.--The President is authorized to deny visas and 
    entry to the former and present leadership of the SPDC or the Union 
    Solidarity Development Association.
        (2) Updates.--The Secretary of State shall coordinate on a 
    biannual basis with representatives of the European Union to allow 
    officials of the United States and the European Union to ensure a 
    high degree of coordination of lists of individuals banned from 
    obtaining a visa by the European Union for the reason described in 
    paragraph (1) and those banned from receiving a visa from the 
    United States.
    (b) Publication.--The Secretary of State shall post on the 
Department of State's website the names of individuals whose entry into 
the United States is banned under subsection (a).

SEC. 7. CONDEMNATION OF THE REGIME AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.

    Congress encourages the Secretary of State to highlight the abysmal 
record of the SPDC to the international community and use all 
appropriate fora, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 
Regional Forum and Asian Nations Regional Forum, to encourage other 
states to restrict financial resources to the SPDC and Burmese 
companies while offering political recognition and support to Burma's 
democratic movement including the National League for Democracy and 
Burma's ethnic groups.

SEC. 8. SUPPORT DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS IN BURMA.

    (a) In General.--The President is authorized to use all available 
resources to assist Burmese democracy activists dedicated to nonviolent 
opposition to the regime in their efforts to promote freedom, 
democracy, and human rights in Burma, including a listing of 
constraints on such programming.
    (b) Reports.--
        (1) First report.--Not later than 3 months after the date of 
    enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall provide the 
    Committees on Appropriations and Foreign Relations of the Senate 
    and the Committees on Appropriations and International Relations of 
    the House of Representatives a comprehensive report on its short- 
    and long-term programs and activities to support democracy 
    activists in Burma, including a list of constraints on such 
    programming.
        (2) Report on resources.--Not later than 6 months after the 
    date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall provide 
    the Committees on Appropriations and Foreign Relations of the 
    Senate and the Committees on Appropriations and International 
    Relations of the House of Representatives a report identifying 
    resources that will be necessary for the reconstruction of Burma, 
    after the SPDC is removed from power, including--
            (A) the formation of democratic institutions;
            (B) establishing the rule of law;
            (C) establishing freedom of the press;
            (D) providing for the successful reintegration of military 
        officers and personnel into Burmese society; and
            (E) providing health, educational, and economic 
        development.
        (3) Report on trade sanctions.--Not later than 90 days before 
    the date on which the import restrictions contained in section 
    3(a)(1) are to expire, the Secretary of State, in consultation with 
    the United States Trade Representative and the heads of appropriate 
    agencies, shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations, 
    Finance, and Foreign Relations of the Senate, and the Committees on 
    Appropriations, International Relations, and Ways and Means of the 
    House of Representatives, a report on--
            (A) bilateral and multilateral measures undertaken by the 
        United States Government and other governments to promote human 
        rights and democracy in Burma;
            (B) the extent to which actions related to trade with Burma 
        taken pursuant to this Act have been effective in--
                (i) improving conditions in Burma, including human 
            rights violations, arrest and detention of democracy 
            activists, forced and child labor, and the status of 
            dialogue between the SPDC and the NLD and ethnic 
            minorities;
                (ii) furthering the policy objections of the United 
            States toward Burma; and
            (C) the impact of actions relating to trade take pursuant 
        to this Act on other national security, economic, and foreign 
        policy interests of the United States, including relations with 
        countries friendly to the United States.

SEC. 9. DURATION OF SANCTIONS.

    (a) Termination by Request From Democratic Burma.--The President 
may terminate any provision in this Act upon the request of a 
democratically elected government in Burma, provided that all the 
conditions in section 3(a)(3) have been met.
    (b) Continuation of Import Sanctions.--
        (1) Expiration.--The import restrictions contained in section 
    3(a)(1) shall expire 1 year from the date of enactment of this Act 
    unless renewed under paragraph (2) of this section.
        (2) Resolution by congress.--The import restrictions contained 
    in section 3(a)(1) may be renewed annually for a 1-year period if, 
    prior to the anniversary of the date of enactment of this Act, and 
    each year thereafter, a renewal resolution is enacted into law in 
    accordance with subsection (c).
        (3) Limitation.--The import restrictions contained in section 
    3(a)(1) may be renewed for a maximum of three years from the date 
    of the enactment of this Act.
    (c) Renewal Resolutions.--
        (1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term 
    ``renewal resolution'' means a joint resolution of the 2 Houses of 
    Congress, the sole matter after the resolving clause of which is as 
    follows: ``That Congress approves the renewal of the import 
    restrictions contained in section 3(a)(1) of the Burmese Freedom 
    and Democracy Act of 2003.''.
        (2) Procedures.--
            (A) In general.--A renewal resolution--
                (i) may be introduced in either House of Congress by 
            any member of such House at any time within the 90-day 
            period before the expiration of the import restrictions 
            contained in section 3(a)(1); and
                (ii) the provisions of subparagraph (B) shall apply.
            (B) Expedited consideration.--The provisions of section 
        152(b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
        U.S.C. 2192 (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f)) apply to a renewal 
        resolution under this Act as if such resolution were a 
        resolution described in section 152(a) of the Trade Act of 
        1974.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.