[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 32383-32385]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15491]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 115 / Wednesday, June 16, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 32383]]


                Executive Order 13126 of June 12, 1999

                
Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced 
                by Forced or Indentured Child Labor

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, and in order to continue the executive 
                branch's commitment to fighting abusive child labor 
                practices, it is hereby ordered as follows:

                Section. 1. Policy. It shall be the policy of the 
                United States Government, consistent with the Tariff 
                Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. 1307, the Fair Labor Standards 
                Act, 29 U.S.C. 201 et. seq., and the Walsh-Healey 
                Public Contracts Act, 41 U.S.C. 35 et seq., that 
                executive agencies shall take appropriate actions to 
                enforce the laws prohibiting the manufacture or 
                importation of goods, wares, articles, and merchandise 
                mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by 
                forced or indentured child labor.

                Sec. 2. Publication of List. Within 120 days after the 
                date of this order, the Department of Labor, in 
                consultation and cooperation with the Department of the 
                Treasury and the Department of State, shall publish in 
                the Federal Register a list of products, identified by 
                their country of origin, that those Departments have a 
                reasonable basis to believe might have been mined, 
                produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child 
                labor. The Department of Labor may conduct hearings to 
                assist in the identification of those products.

                Sec. 3. Procurement Regulations. Within 120 days after 
                the date of this order, the Federal Acquisition 
                Regulatory Council shall issue proposed rules to 
                implement the following:

                    (a) Required Solicitation Provisions. Each 
                solicitation of offers for a contract for the 
                procurement of a product included on the list published 
                under section 2 of this order shall include the 
                following provisions:
                    (1) A provision that requires the contractor to 
                certify to the contracting officer that the contractor 
                or, in the case of an incorporated contractor, a 
                responsible official of the contractor has made a good 
                faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured 
                child labor was used to mine, produce, or manufacture 
                any product furnished under the contract and that, on 
                the basis of those efforts, the contractor is unaware 
                of any such use of child labor; and
                    (2) A provision that obligates the contractor to 
                cooperate fully in providing reasonable access to the 
                contractor's records, documents, persons, or premises 
                if reasonably requested by authorized officials of the 
                contracting agency, the Department of the Treasury, or 
                the Department of Justice, for the purpose of 
                determining whether forced or indentured child labor 
                was used to mine, produce, or manufacture any product 
                furnished under the contract.
                    (b) Investigations. Whenever a contracting officer 
                of an executive agency has reason to believe that 
                forced or indentured child labor was used to mine, 
                produce, or manufacture a product furnished pursuant to 
                a contract subject to the requirements of subsection 
                3(a) of this order, the head of the executive agency 
                shall refer the matter for investigation to the 
                Inspector General of the executive agency and, as the 
                head of the executive agency or the Inspector General 
                determines appropriate, to the Attorney General and the 
                Secretary of the Treasury.

[[Page 32384]]

                    (c) Remedies.
                    (1) The head of an executive agency may impose 
                remedies as provided in this subsection in the case of 
                a contractor under a contract of the executive agency 
                if the head of the executive agency finds that the 
                contractor:

 
 
 
(i)    Has furnished under the contract products that have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or
      indentured child labor or uses forced or indentured child labor in the mining, production, or
      manufacturing operations of the contractor;
 (i    Has submitted a false certification under subsection 3(a)(1) of this order; or
  i)
 (i    Has failed to cooperate in accordance with the obligation imposed pursuant to subsection 3(a)(2) of this
 ii   order.
   )
 

                    (2) The head of an executive agency, in his or her 
                sole discretion, may terminate a contract on the basis 
                of any finding described in subsection 3(c)(1) of this 
                order for any contract entered into after the date the 
                regulation called for in section 3 of this order is 
                published in final.
                    (3) The head of an executive agency may debar or 
                suspend a contractor from eligibility for Federal 
                contracts on the basis of a finding that the contractor 
                has engaged in an act described in subsection 3(c)(1) 
                of this order. The provision for debarment may not 
                exceed 3 years.
                    (4) The Administrator of General Services shall 
                include on the List of Parties Excluded from Federal 
                Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs (maintained by 
                the Administrator as described in the Federal 
                Acquisition Regulation) each party that is debarred, 
                suspended, proposed for debarment or suspension, or 
                declared ineligible by the head of an agency on the 
                basis that the person has engaged in an act described 
                in subsection 3(c)(1) of this order.
                    (5) This section shall not be construed to limit 
                the use of other remedies available to the head of an 
                executive agency or any other official of the Federal 
                Government on the basis of a finding described in 
                subsection 3(c)(1) of this order.

                Sec. 4. Report. Within 2 years after implementation of 
                any final rule under this order, the Administrator of 
                General Services, with the assistance of other 
                executive agencies, shall submit to the Office of 
                Management and Budget a report on the actions taken 
                pursuant to this order.

                Sec. 5. Scope. (a) Any proposed rules issued pursuant 
                to section 3 of this order shall apply only to 
                acquisitions for a total amount in excess of the micro-
                purchase threshold as defined in section 32(f) of the 
                Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 
                428(f)).

                    (b) This order does not apply to a contract that is 
                for the procurement of any product, or any article, 
                material, or supply contained in a product that is 
                mined, produced, or manufactured in any foreign country 
                if:

 
 
 
(1)   the foreign country is a party to the Agreement on Government Procurement annexed to the WTO Agreement or
      a party to the North American Free Trade Agreement (``NAFTA''); and
(2)   the contract is of a value that is equal to or greater than the United States threshold specified in the
      Agreement on Government Procurement annexed to the WTO Agreement or NAFTA, whichever is applicable.
 


[[Page 32385]]

                Sec. 6. Definitions. (a) ``Executive agency'' and 
                ``agency'' have the meaning given to ``executive 
                agency'' in section 4(1) of the Office of Federal 
                Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(1)).

                    (b) ``WTO Agreement'' means the Agreement 
                Establishing the World Trade Organization, entered into 
                on April 15, 1994.
                    (c) ``Forced or indentured child labor'' means all 
                work or service (1) exacted from any person under the 
                age of 18 under the menace of any penalty for its 
                nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer 
                himself voluntarily; or (2) performed by any person 
                under the age of 18 pursuant to a contract the 
                enforcement of which can be accomplished by process or 
                penalties.

                Sec. 7. Judicial Review. This order is intended only to 
                improve the internal management of the executive branch 
                and does not create any rights or benefits, substantive 
                or procedural, enforceable by law by a party against 
                the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any 
                other person.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    June 12, 1999.

[FR Doc. 99-15491
Filed 6-15-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P