H.R. 4842 — Introduced in House

I 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4842 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 11, 2014 Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York (for herself and Mr. Smith of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require certain companies to disclose information describing any measures the company has taken to identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the company’s supply chains. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2014. 2. Findings and sense of congress (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) In 2012, the Department of Labor identified 134 goods from 74 countries around the world made by forced labor and child labor. (2) 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. (3) 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. (4) Mechanisms under Federal law related to forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor in the stream of commerce suffer from similar problems of limited scope, broad expectations, and inability to provide information about specific supplies whose goods are tainted. (5) The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights affirm that business enterprises have a responsibility to respect human rights, and that States have a duty to ensure these rights are protected. Such Guiding Principles also clarify that the duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses requires States to take the necessary steps to prevent and address human rights abuses to workers through effective policies and regulation. (6) 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 provide 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. (7) 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 from engaging in trafficking in persons. (b) 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, for the sake of commercial profit; (2) 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; (3) legislation is necessary to provide consumers information on products that are free of child labor, forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking; and (4) through publicly available disclosures, businesses and consumers can avoid inadvertently promoting or sanctioning these crimes through production and purchase of goods and products that have been tainted in the supply chains. 3. Disclosure of information relating to efforts to combat the Use of Forced Labor, Slavery, Trafficking in Persons, or the Worst Forms of Child Labor 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: (s) Disclosures relating to efforts To combat the Use of Forced Labor, Slavery, Trafficking in Persons, or the Worst Forms of Child Labor (1) Regulations Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Global Supply Chain Transparency for Trafficking, Forced Labor, and Child Labor Eradication Act, the Commission, in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall promulgate regulations to require that any covered issuer required to file reports with the Commission under this section to include annually in such reports, a disclosure whether the covered issuer has taken any measures 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 the covered issuer’s supply chain, and a description of such measures taken. Such disclosure shall include, under the heading ‘Policies to Address Forced Labor, Slavery, Human Trafficking, and the Worst Forms of Child Labor’, information describing to what extent, if any, the covered issuer conducts any of the following activities: (A) Whether the covered issuer maintains a policy to identify and eliminate the risks of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the covered issuer’s supply chain (such disclosure to include the text of the policy or substantive description of the elements of the policy), and actions the covered issuer has taken pursuant to or in the absence of such policy. (B) Whether the covered issuer maintains a policy prohibiting its employees and employees of entities associated with its supply chain for engaging in commercial sex acts with a minor. (C) The efforts of the covered issuer to evaluate and address the risks of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor in the product supply chain. If such efforts have been made, such disclosure shall— (i) describe any risks identified within the supply chain, and the measures taken toward eliminating those risks; (ii) specify whether the evaluation was or was not conducted by a third party; (iii) specify whether the process includes consultation with the independent labor organizations (as such term is defined in section 2 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152)), workers’ associations, or workers within workplaces and incorporates the resulting input or written comments from such independent labor organizations, workers’ associations, or workers and if so, the disclosure shall describe the entities consulted and specify the method of such consultation; and (iv) specify the extent to which the process covers entities within the supply chain, including entities upstream in the product supply chain and entities across lines of products or services. (D) The efforts of the covered issuer to ensure that audits of suppliers within the supply chain of the covered issuer are conducted to— (i) investigate the working conditions and labor practices of such suppliers; (ii) verify whether such 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; and (iii) evaluate whether such systems are in compliance with the policies of the covered issuer or efforts in absence of such policies. (E) The efforts of the covered issuer to— (i) require suppliers in the supply chain to attest that the manufacture of materials incorporated into any product and the recruitment of labor are carried out in compliance with the laws regarding forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor of the country or countries in which the covered issuer is doing business; (ii) maintain internal accountability standards, supply chain management, and procurement systems, and procedures for employees, suppliers, contractors, or other entities within its supply chain failing to meet the covered issuer’s standards regarding forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor, including a description of such standards, systems, and procedures; (iii) train the employees and management who have direct responsibility for supply chain management on issues related to forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor, particularly with respect to mitigating risks within the supply chains of products; and (iv) ensure that labor recruitment practices at all suppliers associated with the supply chain comply with the covered issuer’s policies or efforts in absence of such policies for eliminating exploitive labor practices that contribute to forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor, including by complying with audits of labor recruiters and disclosing the results of such audits. (F) The efforts of the covered issuer in cases where forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor have been identified within the supply chain, to ensure that remedial action is provided to those who have identified as victims, including support for programs designed to prevent the recurrence of those events within the industry or sector in which they have been identified. (2) Requirements for availability of information (A) In general The regulations promulgated under paragraph (1) shall require— (i) that the required information be disclosed by the covered issuer on the Internet website of the covered issuer through a conspicuous and easily understandable link to the relevant information that shall be labeled Global Supply Chain Transparency; and (ii) if an individual submits a written request to the covered issuer for such information, that the covered issuer provides the individual with a written disclosure of the required information under this section within 30 days of the receipt of such request. (B) Disclosure The Commission shall make available to the public in a searchable format on the Commission’s website— (i) a list of covered issuers required to disclose any measures taken by the company to identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the covered issuer’s supply chain, as required by this subsection; and (ii) a compilation of the information submitted under the rules issued under paragraph (1). (3) Definitions As used in this subsection— (A) the term covered issuer means an issuer that has annual worldwide global receipts in excess of $100,000,000; (B) the terms forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking mean any labor practice or human trafficking activity in violation of national and international standards, including International Labor Organization Convention No. 182, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–386), and acts that would violate the criminal provisions related to slavery and human trafficking under chapter 77 of title 18, United States Code, if they had been committed within the jurisdiction of the United States; (C) the terms remediation and remedial action mean the activities or systems that an issuer 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 covered issuer disclosing the information required under the regulations promulgated under this section, means all labor recruiters, suppliers of products, component parts of products, and raw materials used by such entity in the manufacturing of such entity’s products whether or not such entity has a direct relationship with the supplier; and (E) the term the worst forms of child labor means child labor in violation of national and international standards, including International Labor Organization Convention No. 182. . 4. Disclosures on website of Department of Labor (a) In general The Secretary of Labor shall make available to the public in a searchable format on the Department of Labor’s website— (1) a list of companies required to disclose any measures taken by the company to identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the covered issuer’s supply chain, as required by section 13(s) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as added by section 3; and (2) a compilation of the information disclosed pursuant to such requirements. (b) Top 100 list The Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary of State and other appropriate Federal and international agencies, independent labor evaluators, and human rights groups, shall annually develop and publish on the Internet website of the Department of Labor a list of top 100 companies adhering to supply chain labor standards, as established under relevant Federal and international guidelines.