I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7981 

To ensure that goods made using or containing cobalt extracted or processed 

with the use of child or forced labor in the Democratic Republic of 

the Congo do not enter the United States market. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2024 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To ensure that goods made using or containing cobalt extracted or processed with the use of child or forced 

labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo do not 

enter the United States market. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop China’s Exploi5 tation of Congolese Children and Adult Forced Labor 

6 through Cobalt Mining Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Cobalt is an essential component of most 

2 lithium-ion batteries, which are key components in 

3 many smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles, 

4 among other electronic devices. According to the 

5 International Energy Agency (IAE), worldwide de6 mand is expected to increase over 1,000 percent for 

7 lithium and 600 percent for cobalt by 2040, as de8 mands for alternative energy systems and battery 

9 storage are expected to grow significantly during 

10 this period. 

11 (2) More than one-half of the world’s cobalt re12 sources are in the DRC, which supplied approxi13 mately 70 percent of the global cobalt mine produc14 tion in 2021. 

15 (3) Fifteen of the DRC’s 19 cobalt mines are 

16 reportedly owned wholly or in part by companies lo17 cated in the People’s Republic of China. 

18 (4) Numerous analysts report significant con19 cerns with forced labor, including forced or inden20 tured child labor, in the DRC mining industry. 

21 (5) Approximately 15 to 30 percent of cobalt 

22 produced in the DRC comes from artisanal and 

23 small-scale mining. An estimated 255,000 miners 

24 work in artisanal and small-scale mining in the 

25 DRC, of whom at least 40,000 are children. 


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1 (6) Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

2 U.S.C. 1307) states that it is illegal to import into 

3 the United States ‘‘goods, wares, articles, and mer4 chandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly 

5 or in part’’ by forced labor, including forced or in6 dentured child labor. Such merchandise is subject to 

7 exclusion or seizure and may lead to criminal inves8 tigation of the importer. 

9 SEC. 3. INVESTIGATION. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Forced Labor En12 forcement Task Force, established under section 741 of 

13 the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementa14 tion Act (19 U.S.C. 4681), in consultation with the heads 

15 of other relevant Federal agencies, shall complete and sub16 mit to the appropriate congressional committees the re17 sults of an investigation into alleged use of forced labor 

18 in the cobalt mining industry of the DRC that— 

19 (1) contains a strategy for the United States 

20 Government to effectively enforce section 307 of the 

21 Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) to prevent the 

22 importation into the United States of cobalt mined 

23 by forced labor that includes measures that— 


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1 (A) can trace the origin of goods and offer 

2 greater supply chain transparency relating to 

3 cobalt from the DRC; and 

4 (B) ensure that cobalt mined by forced 

5 labor does not enter the United States; 

6 (2) contains a strategy to ensure that cobalt 

7 mined by forced labor does not enter the United 

8 States market as goods imported from third coun9 tries; and 

10 (3) contains a strategy to ensure that cobalt 

11 mined by forced labor denied entry to the United 

12 States market does not later enter the United States 

13 market. 

14 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The investigation 

15 required by subsection (a) shall include the following: 

16 (1) A list of— 

17 (A) entities in the DRC that potentially 

18 mine or process cobalt using forced labor; and 

19 (B) categories of downstream products 

20 that include cobalt mined in the DRC and are, 

21 therefore, identified as priority sectors for en22 forcement under section 307 of the Tariff Act 

23 of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307). 

24 (2) Recommendations for efforts, initiatives, 

25 and tools and technologies to be adopted to ensure 


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1 that U.S. Customs and Border Protection can accu2 rately identify and trace cobalt mined by forced 

3 labor in the DRC. 

4 (3) A description of how the list of entities re5 quired by subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) shall 

6 be regularly updated and reported to the appropriate 

7 congressional committees. 

8 (4) A strategy to coordinate and collaborate 

9 with appropriate nongovernmental organizations and 

10 private sector entities to implement the enforcement 

11 strategy for cobalt mined with forced labor and to 

12 create and update the list of entities required in sub13 paragraph (A) of paragraph (1). 

14 (c) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 

15 and any publicly published updates described by sub16 section (d) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

17 may include a classified annex, if necessary. 

18 (d) UPDATES.—After the submission of the strategy 

19 required by subsection (a), the Forced Labor Enforcement 

20 Task Force shall provide briefings to the appropriate con21 gressional committees on a semiannual basis and, as appli22 cable, on— 

23 (1) any updates to the strategy required by 

24 subsection (a); 


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1 (2) any additional actions taken to prevent the 

2 importation of cobalt mined with forced labor, in3 cluding actions described in this Act; and 

4 (3) any action U.S. Customs and Border Pro5 tection has taken to enforce section 307 of the Tar6 iff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) with respect to co7 balt mined in the DRC. 

8 (e) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have effect 

9 on the earlier of— 

10 (1) the date that is 8 years after the date of the 

11 enactment of this Act; or 

12 (2) the date on which the President submits to 

13 the appropriate congressional committees a deter14 mination that forced labor in the DRC mining in15 dustry has ended. 

16 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT19 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com20 mittees’’ means— 

21 (A) the Committee on Ways and Means of 

22 the House of Representatives; and 

23 (B) the Committee on Finance of the Sen24 ate. 


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1 (2) ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING.— 

2 The term ‘‘artisanal and small-scale mining’’— 

3 (A) means mining with minimal to no 

4 mechanization; and 

5 (B) includes the use of intensive hand 

6 tools. 

7 (3) DRC.—The term ‘‘DRC’’ means the Demo8 cratic Republic of the Congo. 

9 (4) FORCED LABOR.—The term ‘‘forced labor’’ 

10 has the meaning given that term in section 307 of 

11 the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307). 

Æ 


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