IB 

Union Calendar No. 730 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7981 

[Report No. 118–895] 

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 

DECEMBER 17, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 15, 2024] 


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•HR 7981 RH

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. 


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•HR 7981 RH

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: 

9 (1) Cobalt is an essential component of most 

10 lithium-ion batteries, which are key components in 

11 many smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles, 

12 among other electronic devices. According to the Inter13 national Energy Agency (IAE), worldwide demand is 

14 expected to increase over 1,000 percent for lithium 

15 and 600 percent for cobalt by 2040, as demands for 

16 alternative energy systems and battery storage are ex17 pected to grow significantly during this period. 

18 (2) More than one-half of the world’s cobalt re19 sources are in the DRC, which supplied approxi20 mately 70 percent of the global cobalt mine produc21 tion in 2021. 

22 (3) Fifteen of the DRC’s 19 cobalt mines are re23 portedly owned wholly or in part by companies lo24 cated in the People’s Republic of China. 


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•HR 7981 RH

1 (4) Numerous analysts report significant con2 cerns with forced labor, including forced or inden3 tured child labor, in the DRC mining industry. 

4 (5) Approximately 15 to 30 percent of cobalt 

5 produced in the DRC comes from artisanal and 

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

7 work in artisanal and small-scale mining in the 

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

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

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

11 the United States ‘‘goods, wares, articles, and mer12 chandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or 

13 in part’’ by forced labor, including forced or inden14 tured child labor. Such merchandise is subject to ex15 clusion or seizure and may lead to criminal inves16 tigation of the importer. 

17 SEC. 3. INVESTIGATION. 

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

19 date of the enactment of this Act, the Forced Labor Enforce20 ment Task Force, established under section 741 of the 

21 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation 

22 Act (19 U.S.C. 4681), in consultation with the heads of 

23 other relevant Federal agencies, shall complete and submit 

24 to the appropriate congressional committees the results of 


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•HR 7981 RH

1 an investigation into the alleged use of forced labor in the 

2 cobalt mining industry of the DRC that— 

3 (1) contains a strategy for the United States 

4 Government to effectively enforce section 307 of the 

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

6 importation into the United States of cobalt mined by 

7 forced labor that includes measures that— 

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

9 greater supply chain transparency relating to co10 balt from the DRC; and 

11 (B) ensure that cobalt mined by forced labor 

12 does not enter the United States; 

13 (2) contains a strategy to ensure that cobalt 

14 mined by forced labor does not enter the United 

15 States market as goods imported from third countries; 

16 and 

17 (3) contains a strategy to ensure that cobalt 

18 mined by forced labor denied entry to the United 

19 States market does not later enter the United States 

20 market. 

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

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

23 (1) A list of— 

24 (A) entities in the DRC that potentially 

25 mine or process cobalt using forced labor; and 


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•HR 7981 RH

1 (B) categories of downstream products that 

2 include cobalt mined in the DRC and are, there3 fore, identified as priority sectors for enforcement 

4 under section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

5 U.S.C. 1307). 

6 (2) Recommendations for efforts, initiatives, and 

7 tools and technologies to be adopted to ensure that 

8 U.S. Customs and Border Protection can accurately 

9 identify and trace cobalt mined by forced labor in the 

10 DRC. 

11 (3) A description of how the list of entities re12 quired by subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) shall be 

13 regularly updated and reported to the appropriate 

14 congressional committees. 

15 (4) A strategy to coordinate and collaborate with 

16 appropriate nongovernmental organizations and pri17 vate sector entities to implement the enforcement 

18 strategy for cobalt mined with forced labor and to cre19 ate and update the list of entities required in sub20 paragraph (A) of paragraph (1). 

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

22 any publicly published updates described by subsection (d) 

23 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include 

24 a classified annex, if necessary. 


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•HR 7981 RH

1 (d) UPDATES.—After the submission of the strategy re2 quired by subsection (a), the Forced Labor Enforcement 

3 Task Force shall provide briefings to the appropriate con4 gressional committees on a semiannual basis and, as appli5 cable, on— 

6 (1) any updates to the strategy required by sub7 section (a); 

8 (2) any additional actions taken to prevent the 

9 importation of cobalt mined with forced labor, includ10 ing actions described in this Act; and 

11 (3) any action U.S. Customs and Border Protec12 tion has taken to enforce section 307 of the Tariff Act 

13 of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) with respect to cobalt mined 

14 in the DRC. 

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

16 the earlier of— 

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

18 enactment of this Act; or 

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

20 the appropriate congressional committees a deter21 mination that forced labor in the DRC mining indus22 try has ended. 

23 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit3 tees’’ means— 

4 (A) the Committee on Ways and Means of 

5 the House of Representatives; and 

6 (B) the Committee on Finance of the Sen7 ate. 

8 (2) ARTISANAL AND SMALL-SCALE MINING.—The 

9 term ‘‘artisanal and small-scale mining’’— 

10 (A) means mining with minimal to no 

11 mechanization; and 

12 (B) includes the use of intensive hand tools. 

13 (3) DRC.—The term ‘‘DRC’’ means the Demo14 cratic Republic of the Congo. 

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

16 has the meaning given that term in section 307 of the 

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


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Union Calendar No. 730 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7981 

[Report No. 118–895] 

A BILL 

To ensure that goods made using or containing coCongo do not enter the United States market. or forced labor in the Democratic Republic of the balt extracted or processed with the use of child 

DECEMBER 17, 2024 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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