[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 76 (Monday, April 21, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19580-19582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-9797]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Bureau of International Labor Affairs; Request for Information 
Concerning Labor Rights in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras 
and Nicaragua and Their Laws Governing Exploitative Child Labor

AGENCIES: Office of the Secretary, Labor; Office of the United States 
Trade Representative and Department of State.

[[Page 19581]]


ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for public comments to assist the 
Secretary of Labor, the United States Trade Representative, and the 
Secretary of State in preparing reports regarding labor rights in the 
five member countries of the Central American Economic Integrations 
System (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) and 
describing the extent to which they have in effect laws governing 
exploitative child labor. The Trade Act of 2002 requires reports on 
these issues and others when the President intends to use trade 
promotion authority procedures in connection with legislation approving 
and implementing a trade agreement. On October 1, 2002, in accordance 
with section 2104(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 2002, the United States 
Trade Representative (USTR) notified the Congress of the President's 
intent to enter into trade negotiations with these five countries of 
Central America. The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) 
invited the public to provide written comments and/or oral testimony at 
a public hearing conducted on November 19, 2002 to assist USTR in 
formulating positions and proposals with respect to all aspects of the 
negotiations (67 FR 63187) (Oct. 10, 2002). The first round of the 
U.S.--Central America FTA negotiations took place January 27-31 in 
Costa Rica, a the second round took place February 24-28 in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, and a third round took place March 31--April 4 in El Salvador. A 
fourth round is scheduled for May 12th in Guatemala, and negotiations 
are expected to be completed by the end of 2003. Any agreement 
resulting from these negotiations will be subject to trade promotion 
authority procedures. The President assigned the functions of preparing 
reports regarding labor rights and the existence of laws governing 
exploitative child labor to the Secretary of Labor, in consultation 
with the Secretary of State and the United States Trade Representative. 
The Secretary of Labor further assigned these functions to the 
Secretary of State and the United States Trade Representative.

DATES: Public comments should be received no later than 5 p.m. June 5, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Persons submitting comments are strongly advised to make 
such submissions by electronic mail to the following address: 
[email protected]. Submissions by facsimile may be sent to: Betsy 
White at the Office of International Economic Affairs, Bureau of 
International Labor Affairs (202) 693-4851.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions regarding the 
submissions, please contact Betsy White, Office of International 
Economic Affairs, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, at (202) 693-
4919, facsimile (202) 693-4851. These are not toll-free numbers. 
Substantive questions concerning the labor rights report and/or the 
report on Central America's laws governing exploitative child labor 
should be addressed to Jorge Perez-Lopez, Office of International 
Economic Affairs, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. 
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20210, telephone (202) 693-4883.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Trade Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) (the Trade Act) sets forth 
special procedures (Trade Promotion Authority) for approval and 
implementation of Agreements subject to meeting conditions and 
requirements in the Act. Division B of the Trade Act, entitled the 
Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002. The Trade Act 
includes negotiating objectives and a listing of priorities for the 
President to promote in order to ``address and maintain United States 
competitiveness in the global economy'' in pursuing future trade 
agreements. 19 U.S.C. 3802(a)-(c). The President delegated several of 
the functions in section 3802(c) to the Secretary of Labor. (E.O. 
13277). These include the functions set forth in section 2102(c)(8), 
which requires that the President ``in connection with any trade 
negotiations entered into under this Act, submit to the Committee on 
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Finance of the Senate a meaningful labor rights report of the country, 
or countries, with respect to which the President is negotiating'' and 
the function in section 2102(c)(9), which requires that the President 
``with respect to any trade agreement which the President seeks to 
implement under trade authorities procedures, submit to the Congress a 
report describing the extent to which the country or countries that are 
parties to the agreement have in effect laws governing exploitative 
child labor.'' The notification letters to the Congress regarding the 
President's intent to enter into trade negotiations with Central 
America can be found on the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/2002-10-01-centralamerica-house.PDF and http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/2002-10-01-centralamerica-senate.PDF.

II. Information Sought

    Interested parties are invited to submit written information as 
specified below to be taken into account in drafting the required 
reports. Materials submitted should be confined to the specific topics 
of the reports. In particular, agencies are seeking written submissions 
on the following topics:
    1. Labor laws, including laws governing exploitative child labor, 
of the five Central American countries that are participating in the 
negotiations and each country's implementation and enforcement of its 
labor laws and regulations;
    2. The situation in these five countries of Central America with 
respect to core labor standards;
    3. Steps taken by the five countries to comply with International 
Labor Organization Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor; 
and
    4. The nature and extent, if any, of exploitative child labor in 
each of these five countries of Central America.
    Section 2113(6) of the Trade Act defines ``core labor standards'' 
as:
    (A) The right of association;
    (B) The right to organize and bargain collectively;
    (C) A prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory 
labor;
    (D) A minimum age for the employment of children; and
    (E) Acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, 
hours of work, and occupational safety and health.

III. Requirements for Submissions

    This document is a request for facts or opinions submitted in 
response to a general solicitation of comments from the public. To 
ensure prompt and full consideration of submissions, we strongly 
recommend that interested persons submit comments by electronic mail to 
the following e-mail address: [email protected]. Persons making 
submissions by e-mail should use the following subject line: ``Central 
America: Labor Rights and Child Labor Reports.'' Documents should be 
submitted in WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) format. Supporting 
documentation submitted as spreadsheets is acceptable in Quattro Pro or 
Excel format. Persons who make submissions by e-mail should not provide 
separate cover letters; information that might appear in a cover letter 
should be included in the submission itself. Similarly, to the extent 
possible, any attachments to the submission should be included in the

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same file as the submission itself, and not as separate files. Written 
comments will be placed in a file open to public inspection at the 
Department of Labor, Room S-5317, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington DC and in the USTR Reading Room in Room 3 of the annex of 
the Office of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508. An 
appointment to review the file at the Department of Labor may be made 
by contacting Betsy White at (202) 693-4919. An appointment to review 
the file at USTR may be made by calling (202) 395-6186. The USTR 
Reading Room is generally open to the public from 10 a.m.-12 noon and 
1-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments must be scheduled at least 
48 hours in advance.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 16th of April 2003.
Thomas B. Moorhead,
Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 03-9797 Filed 4-18-03; 8:45 am]
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