[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 172 (Thursday, September 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72426-72428]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18770]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
[Agency Docket Number DOL-2024-0004]
Efforts by Certain Foreign Countries To Eliminate the Worst Forms
of Child Labor; Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Forced or Indentured
Child Labor in the Production of Goods in Foreign Countries; and
Business Practices To Reduce the Likelihood of Forced Labor or Child
Labor in the Production of Goods
AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice of publication; request information and invitation to
comment.
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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for information and/or comment on
three reports issued by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs
(ILAB) regarding child labor and forced labor in certain foreign
countries, as well as ILAB's Comply Chain knowledge tool for labor
compliance in global supply chains. Relevant information submitted by
the public will be used by the Department of Labor (DOL) in preparing
its ongoing reporting as required under Congressional mandates and a
Presidential directive.
DATES: Submitters of information are requested to provide their
submission to DOL's Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human
Trafficking (OCFT) at the email or physical address below by 11:59 p.m.
on December 16, 2024.
ADDRESSES:
To Submit Information: Information should be submitted directly to
OCFT, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor.
Comments, identified as Docket No. DOL-2024-0004, may be submitted by
any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: The portal includes instructions for
submitting comments. Parties submitting responses electronically are
encouraged not to submit paper copies.
Facsimile (fax): OCFT at 202-693-4830.
Mail, Express Delivery, Hand Delivery, and Messenger Service (1
copy): Matthew Fraterman, U.S. Department of Labor, OCFT, Bureau of
International Labor Affairs, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room S-5315,
Washington, DC 20210.
Email: Email submissions should be addressed to Matthew Fraterman
([email protected].).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Fraterman, Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, U.S. Department of Labor at
202-693-4833 (this is not a toll-free number) or
[email protected].
Digital Accessibility: DOL is required to ensure that all its
digital information is accessible to people with disabilities,
including those who use assistive technology such as screen readers.
Therefore, DOL requests that your submissions through the portal be as
accessible as possible. If you are able to conform to the current Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), then please do so. Otherwise,
DOL requests that submissions be made in a Microsoft Word document,
using the built-in styles for document formatting, including
descriptive Alt Text on embedded images and graphics, and using the
built-in Word Accessibility Checker for additional accessibility
improvements. Although permissible, please avoid submitting scanned
images, screen shots, or PDFs whenever possible.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 2023 Findings on the Worst Forms of
Child Labor (TDA report), published on September 5, 2024, assesses
efforts of 131 countries to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in
2023 and whether countries made significant, moderate, minimal, or no
advancement. It also suggests actions foreign countries can take to
eliminate the worst forms of child labor through legislation,
enforcement, coordination, policies, and social programs. The 2024 List
of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor (TVPRA List),
published on September 5, 2024, makes available to the public a list of
goods from countries that ILAB has reason to believe are produced by
child labor or forced labor in violation of international standards,
including, to the extent practicable, goods that are produced with
inputs that are produced with forced labor or child labor. Finally, the
List of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor (E.O.
13126 List), provides a list of products, identified by country of
origin, that DOL, in consultation and cooperation with the Departments
of State (DOS) and Homeland Security (DHS), has a reasonable basis to
believe might have been mined, produced, or manufactured with forced or
indentured child labor. Relevant information
[[Page 72427]]
submitted by the public will be used by DOL in preparing the next
edition of the TDA report, to be published in 2025; the next edition of
the TVPRA List, which will be published in 2026; and for possible
updates to the E.O. 13126 List as needed.
This notice is also a request for information and/or comment on
Comply Chain: Business Tools for Labor Compliance in Global Supply
Chains (Comply Chain). ILAB is seeking information on current practices
of firms, business associations, and other private sector groups to
promote worker voice, engage stakeholders, and reduce the likelihood of
child labor and forced labor in the production of goods. This
information and/or comment is sought to fulfill ILAB's mandate under
the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (TVPRA)
to work with persons who are involved in the production of goods made
with forced labor or child labor. Comply Chain seeks to address this
mandate through the creation of a standard set of practices that will
reduce the likelihood that such persons will produce goods using forced
labor or child labor.
I. The Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA), Public Law 106-200
(2000), established eligibility criterion for receipt of trade benefits
under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). The TDA amended the
GSP reporting requirements of Section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, 19
U.S.C. 2464, to require that the President's annual report on the
status of internationally recognized worker rights include ``findings
by the Secretary of Labor with respect to the beneficiary country's
implementation of its international commitments to eliminate the worst
forms of child labor.''
The TDA Conference Report clarifies this mandate, indicating that
the President consider the following when considering whether a country
is complying with its obligations to eliminate the worst forms of child
labor: (1) whether the country has adequate laws and regulations
proscribing the worst forms of child labor; (2) whether the country has
adequate laws and regulations for the implementation and enforcement of
such measures; (3) whether the country has established formal
institutional mechanisms to investigate and address complaints relating
to allegations of the worst forms of child labor; (4) whether social
programs exist in the country to prevent the engagement of children in
the worst forms of child labor, and to assist with the removal of
children engaged in the worst forms of child labor; (5) whether the
country has a comprehensive policy for the elimination of the worst
forms of child labor; and (6) whether the country is making continual
progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor.'' (H. Conf.
Rept. 106-606, May 4, 2000, p. 124).
DOL fulfills this reporting mandate through annual publication of
the Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. To access the 2023 TDA
report please visit at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/findings.
II. Section 105(b) of the Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2005, Public Law 109-164 (2006), 22 U.S.C.
7112(b), as amended by Section 133 of the Frederick Douglass
Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of
2018, Public Law 115-425 (2019), directs the Secretary of Labor, acting
through ILAB, to ``develop and make available to the public a list of
goods from countries that [ILAB] has reason to believe are produced by
forced labor or child labor in violation of international standards,
including, to the extent practicable, goods that are produced with
inputs that are produced with forced labor or child labor.'' (TVPRA
List).
Pursuant to this mandate, DOL published in the Federal Register a
set of procedural guidelines that ILAB follows in developing the TVPRA
List. 72 FR 73374 (Dec. 27, 2007). The guidelines set forth the
criteria by which information is evaluated; established procedures for
public submission of information to be considered by ILAB; and
identified the process ILAB follows in maintaining and updating the
List after its initial publication. DOL published an update to the
procedural guidelines on January 25, 2024. (89 FR 4994).
ILAB published its first TVPRA List on September 30, 2009, and
issued updates in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022,
and 2024. In 2014, ILAB began publishing the TVPRA List every other
year, pursuant to changes in the law. See 22 U.S.C. 7112(b)(3). The
next TVPRA List will be published in 2026. For a copy of previous
editions of the TVPRA List and other materials relating to the TVPRA
List, see ILAB's TVPRA web page.
III. Executive Order No. 13126 (E.O. 13126) declared that it was
``the policy of the United States Government . . . that the 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.'' Pursuant to E.O. 13126, and
following public notice and comment, the Department of Labor published
in the January 18, 2001, Federal Register, a list of products (``E.O.
13126 List''), identified by country of origin, that the Department, in
consultation and cooperation with the Departments of State (DOS) and
Treasury [relevant responsibilities are now within the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS)], had a reasonable basis to believe might have
been mined, produced or manufactured with forced or indentured child
labor (66 FR 5353). In addition to the List, the Department also
published on January 18, 2001, ``Procedural Guidelines for Maintenance
of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as
to Forced or Indentured Child Labor,'' which provide for maintaining,
reviewing, and, as appropriate, revising the E.O. 13126 List (66 FR
5351).
Pursuant to Sections D through G of the Procedural Guidelines, the
E.O. 13126 List may be updated through consideration of submissions by
individuals or through ILAB's own initiative after public notice and
comment as well as consultation with DOS and DHS. For additional
information, see E.O. 13126 List, Procedural Guidelines.
Information Requested and Invitation to Comment: Interested parties
are invited to comment and provide information regarding these reports.
DOL requests comments on or information relevant to updating the
findings and suggested government actions for countries reviewed in the
TDA report, assessing each country's individual advancement toward
eliminating the worst forms of child labor during the current reporting
period compared to previous years, and maintaining and updating the
TVPRA and E.O. 13126 Lists. Materials submitted should be confined to
the specific topics of the TDA report, the TVPRA List, and the E.O.
13126 List. DOL will generally consider sources with dates up to five
years old (i.e., data not older than January 1, 2019). DOL appreciates
the extent to which submissions clearly indicate the time period to
which they apply. In the interest of transparency in our reporting,
classified information will not be accepted. Where applicable,
information submitted should indicate its source or sources, and copies
of the source material should be provided. If primary sources are
utilized, such as research studies, interviews, direct observations, or
other sources of quantitative or qualitative data, details on the
research or data-gathering methodology should be provided. Please see
the TDA report,
[[Page 72428]]
TVPRA List, and the E.O. 13126 List for a complete explanation of
relevant terms, definitions, and reporting guidelines employed by DOL.
Per our standard procedures, submissions will be published on the ILAB
web page.
IV: Section 104(b)(2)(D) of The Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 mandates that ILAB ``work with
persons who are involved in the production of goods on [ILAB's List of
Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor] to create a standard set
of practices that will reduce the likelihood that such persons will
produce goods using [forced and child labor].''
Many firms have policies, activities, and/or systems in place to
monitor labor rights in their supply chains and remediate violations.
Such policies, activities and systems vary depending on location,
industry, and many other factors. ILAB seeks to identify practices that
have been effective in specific contexts, analyze their replicability,
and disseminate those that have potential to be effective on a broader
scale through Comply Chain.
Information Requested and Invitation to Comment: In addition to
general comments on the existing publication of Comply Chain, ILAB is
seeking information on current practices of firms, business
associations, and other private sector groups to reduce the likelihood
of child labor and forced labor in the production of goods. ILAB
welcomes any and all input. Examples of materials could include, but
are not limited to: (1) Codes of conduct; (2) Sets of standards used
for implementation of codes in specific industries or locations or
among particular labor populations; (3) Auditing/monitoring systems, or
components of such systems, as well as related systems for enforcement
of labor standards across a supply chain; (4) Strategies for monitoring
sub-tier suppliers, informal workplaces, homework, and other
challenging environments; (5) Training modules and other mechanisms for
communicating expectations to stakeholders which incorporate worker
input; (6) Traceability models or experiences; (7) Remediation
strategies for children and/or adults found in conditions of forced or
child labor; (8) Reporting-related practices and practices related to
independent review; (9) Projects at the grassroots level which address
underlying issues or root causes of child labor or forced labor; (10)
and/or any other relevant practices.
In addition, ILAB is seeking information on current practices of
governments to collaborate with private sector actors through public-
private partnerships to reduce the likelihood of child labor and forced
labor in the production of goods. Submissions may include policy
documents, reports, statistics, case studies, and many other formats.
In addition, ILAB welcomes submissions of reports, analyses, guidance,
toolkits, and other documents in which such practices have been
compiled or analyzed by third-party groups. Information should be
submitted to the addresses and within the time period set forth above.
DOL seeks information that can be used to inform the development of
tools and resources to be disseminated publicly on the DOL website and/
or in other publications. However, in disseminating information, DOL
will conceal, to the extent permitted by law, the identity of the
submitter and/or the individual or company using the practice in
question, upon request. Internal, confidential documents that cannot be
shared with the public will not be used. Submissions containing
confidential or personal information may be redacted by DOL before
being made available to the public, in accordance with applicable laws
and regulations. DOL does not commit to responding directly to
submissions or returning submissions to the submitters, but DOL may
communicate with the submitter regarding any matters relating to the
submission.
(Authority: 22 U.S.C. 7112(b)(2)(C))
Signed at Washington, DC.
Thea Mei Lee
Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2024-18770 Filed 9-4-24; 8:45 am]
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