Sec. 2. Findings and sense of Congress
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Congress finds the following: In 2014, the Department of Labor identified 136 goods from 74 countries around the world made by forced labor and child labor. The United States is the world’s largest importer, and in the 21st century, investors, consumers, and broader civil society increasingly demand information about the human rights impact of products in the United States market. Courts have ruled that consumers do not have standing to bring a civil action in United States courts for enforcement of a provision in the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 prohibiting importation of goods made with forced labor or convict labor, and furthermore, the provision has a broad exception for goods that cannot be produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet the demands of American consumers from tainted goods, consequently, there are fewer than 40 enforcement actions on record in the past 80 years.
Mechanisms under Federal law to prevent and punish perpetrators of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor in the stream of commerce suffer from problems of limited scope, broad expectations, and lack of available information about goods that are produced along supply chains tainted by these crimes and imported by the United States. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 ( Public Law 108–193 ) together with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2005 ( Public Law 109–164 ) provide for the termination of Federal contracts where a Federal contractor or subcontractor engages in severe forms of trafficking in persons or has procured a commercial sex act during the period of time that the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement is in effect, or uses forced labor in the performance of the grant, contract, or cooperative agreement.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2005 also provides United States courts with criminal jurisdiction abroad over Federal employees, contractors, or subcontractors who participate in severe forms of trafficking in persons or forced labor. Executive Order 13126, Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor, Executive Order 13627, Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal Contracts, and title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 ( Public Law 112–239 ) have prohibited Federal contractors, subcontractors, and their employees from engaging in the following trafficking-related activities: charging labor recruitment fees; confiscating passports and other identity documents of workers; and using fraudulent recruitment practices, including failing to disclose basic information or making material misrepresentations about the terms and conditions of employment.
Such Executive order and Acts also require Federal contractors, subcontractors, and their employees to maintain an anti-trafficking compliance plan that includes, among other elements, a complaint mechanism and procedures to prevent subcontractors at any tier in the supply chain from engaging in trafficking in persons. It is the sense of Congress that— 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, for the sake of commercial profit; the legislative and regulatory framework to prevent goods produced by 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; legislation is necessary to provide consumers information on products that are free of child labor, forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking; and through publicly available disclosures, businesses and consumers can avoid inadvertently promoting or sanctioning these crimes through production and purchase of raw materials, goods and finished products that have been tainted in the supply chains.
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- Pub. L. 108-193
- Pub. L. 109-164
- Pub. L. 112-239
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Sec. 2
Findings and sense of Congress
Pub. L.Pub. L. 108-193
Pub. L.Pub. L. 109-164
Pub. L.Pub. L. 112-239
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