[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2759 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2759

    To require companies to include in their annual reports to the 
Securities and Exchange Commission a disclosure describing any measures 
     the company has taken during the year to identify and address 
 conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst 
        forms of child labor within the company's supply chains.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2011

Mrs. Maloney (for herself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. Speier, and Mr. 
  McGovern) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require companies to include in their annual reports to the 
Securities and Exchange Commission a disclosure describing any measures 
     the company has taken during the year to identify and address 
 conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst 
        forms of child labor within the company's supply chains.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, ETC.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Business 
Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act''.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) in 2010, the Department of Labor identified 128 goods 
        from 70 countries around the world made by forced labor and 
        child labor;
            (2) the United States is the world's largest importer, and 
        in the twenty-first century, investors, consumers, and broader 
        civil society increasingly demand information about the human 
        rights impact of products in the United States market;
            (3) in 2010, California enacted the first State law 
        requiring manufacturers and retail companies to publicly 
        disclose their policies to eradicate slavery, forced labor, and 
        human trafficking within their supply chains;
            (4) the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibits 
        importation of goods made with forced labor or convict labor, 
        has a broad exception for goods that cannot be produced in the 
        United States in sufficient quantities to meet the demands of 
        American consumers;
            (5) courts have also ruled that consumers do not have 
        standing to bring a civil action in United States courts for 
        enforcement of this provision of the Tariff Act, because the 
        legislative intent was to protect American manufacturers from 
        unfairly priced goods, not to protect consumers from tainted 
        goods, consequently, there are fewer than 40 enforcement 
        actions on record in the past 80 years; and
            (6) other mechanisms related to slavery and trafficking in 
        the stream of commerce suffer from similar problems of limited 
        scope, broad exceptions, and inability to provide information 
        about specific suppliers whose goods are tainted.
    (c) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) forced labor, slavery, human trafficking and the worst 
        forms of child labor are among the most egregious forms of 
        abuse that humans commit against each other, in the name of 
        commercial profit;
            (2) the legislative and regulatory framework to prevent 
        goods produced through forced labor, slavery, human 
        trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor from passing 
        into the stream of commerce in the United States is gravely 
        inadequate; and
            (3) legislation is necessary to provide the information 
        that the public demands, recognizing that businesses can be 
        part of the solution to these problems when they transparently 
        provide information to consumers and investors, and 
        subsequently respond to consumer and investor demands for 
        business reasons, rather than solely reacting to governmental 
        prescriptions on how to conduct their business.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE TO SEC RELATING TO SLAVERY CONDITIONS WITHIN PRODUCT 
              SUPPLY CHAINS.

    Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m), 
is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(r) Disclosures Relating to Slavery Conditions Within Product 
Supply Chains.--
            ``(1) Regulations.--Not later than 270 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall 
        promulgate regulations requiring any person required to file 
        reports with the Commission under this section to include 
        annually in such reports, beginning with the person's first 
        full fiscal year that begins after the date of promulgation of 
        such regulations, a disclosure of any measures such person has 
        taken during the year for which such reporting is required to 
        identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human 
        trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within such 
        person's supply chains. Such disclosure shall include the 
        following information under the heading `Policies to Address 
        Forced Labor, Slavery, Human Trafficking and the Worst Forms of 
        Child Labor' describing to what extent, if any, the person 
        conducts any of the following activities:
                    ``(A) Maintains a policy to identify and eliminate 
                risks of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and 
                the worst forms of child labor within its supply chain. 
                If the person maintains such a policy, the disclosure 
                shall include the text of the policy or a substantive 
                description of the elements of the policy.
                    ``(B) Maintains a policy prohibiting the use of the 
                person's corporate products, facilities, or services to 
                obtain or maintain someone under conditions of forced 
                labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms 
                of child labor.
                    ``(C) Engages in verification of product supply 
                chains to evaluate and address risks of forced labor, 
                slavery, human trafficking and the worst forms of child 
                labor. The disclosure shall--
                            ``(i) describe the greatest risks 
                        identified within the supply chain, and the 
                        measures taken toward eliminating those risks;
                            ``(ii) specify whether the verification was 
                        or was not conducted by a third party; and
                            ``(iii) specify whether the verification 
                        process includes consultations with independent 
                        unions, workers' associations, or workers 
                        within workplaces and incorporates the 
                        resulting certification or written comments 
                        from such independent union, workers' 
                        associations, or workers.
                    ``(D) Ensures that audits of suppliers are 
                conducted to evaluate supplier compliance with the 
                person's company standards for eliminating forced 
                labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms 
                of child labor in supply chains. The disclosure shall 
                specify if the verification was not an independent, 
                unannounced audit.
                    ``(E) Assesses supply chain management and 
                procurement systems of suppliers in the person's supply 
                chain, to verify whether said suppliers have in place 
                appropriate systems to identify risks of forced labor, 
                slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of 
                child labor within their own supply chain.
                    ``(F) Requires suppliers in its supply chain to 
                certify that materials incorporated into the product 
                comply with the laws regarding forced labor, slavery, 
                human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor 
                of the country or countries in which they are doing 
                business.
                    ``(G) Maintains internal accountability standards, 
                supply chain management and procurement systems, and 
                procedures for employees or contractors failing to meet 
                the person's company standards regarding forced labor, 
                slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of 
                child labor. The report shall describe such standards 
                and systems.
                    ``(H) Provides the person's employees and 
                management who have direct responsibility for supply 
                chain management, training on forced labor, slavery, 
                human trafficking and the worst forms of child labor, 
                particularly with respect to mitigating risks within 
                the supply chains of products.
                    ``(I) Ensures that recruitment practices at all 
                suppliers comply with the person's company standards 
                for eliminating exploitive labor practices that 
                contribute to forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, 
                and the worst forms of child labor, including by 
                conducting audits of labor recruiters and disclosing 
                the results of such audits.
                    ``(J) In cases where forced labor, slavery, human 
                trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor have 
                been identified within the supply chain, ensures that 
                remediation is provided to those who have been 
                identified as victims.
            ``(2) Interactive data format.--The rules issued under 
        paragraph (1) shall require that the information included in 
        the person's annual report be submitted in electronic form in 
        an interactive data format.
            ``(3) Public availability of information.--To the extent 
        practicable, the Commission shall make available to the public 
        in a searchable format on a website, a compilation of the 
        information required to be submitted under the rules issued 
        under paragraph (1).
            ``(4) Publication on the company's website.--Any person 
        filing the disclosure required by paragraph (1) shall make 
        available such disclosure on the person's Internet website with 
        a conspicuous and easily understood link to the relevant 
        information placed on the homepage of the website. The link on 
        the homepage shall be labeled ``Policies to Address Forced 
        Labor, Slavery, Human Trafficking and the Worst Forms of Child 
        Labor.'' In the event the person does not have an Internet 
        website, the person shall provide the written disclosure within 
        30 days after receiving a written request for the disclosure 
        from an investor or consumer.
            ``(5) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
                    ``(A) the term ``forced labor, slavery, human 
                trafficking and the worst forms of child labor'' means 
                child labor in violation of international standards 
                including International Labor Organization Convention 
                No. 182 and acts that would violate the criminal 
                provisions related to slavery and human trafficking 
                under chapter 77 of title 18 if they had been committed 
                within the jurisdiction of the United States;
                    ``(B) the term `person' means any publicly-traded 
                or private entity required to submit any annual report 
                to the Commission, and having annual worldwide global 
                receipts in excess of $100,000,000;
                    ``(C) the term `remediation' means the activities 
                or systems that a company puts in place to address non-
                compliance with the standards identified through 
                monitoring or verification, which may apply to 
                individuals adversely affected by the non-compliant 
                conduct or address broader systematic processes;
                    ``(D) the term `supply chain', with respect to a 
                person filing the disclosure required by paragraph (1), 
                means all suppliers of products, component parts of 
                products, and raw materials used by such person in the 
                manufacturing of such person's products or the 
                provision of such person's services, whether or not 
                such person has a direct relationship with the 
                supplier; and
                    ``(E) the term `verification' means the process by 
                which a company is evaluated to determine compliance 
                with its documented program, including standards on 
                forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst 
                forms of child labor, including an evaluation of--
                            ``(i) data gathered through monitoring 
                        activities to ensure results are reliable and 
                        process is credible; and
                            ``(ii) the system established to remediate 
                        violations to determine if remediation is 
                        implemented and effective.''.
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