I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4343

To encourage liberty inside the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 4, 1994

Mr. DORNAN (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. PORTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. WYNN, Mr. LEVY, Mr.

KING, Mr. WILSON, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. COX, and Mrs. BENTLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign

Affairs

A BILL

To encourage liberty inside the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

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

3 SECTION 1. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.

4 (a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to create

5 principles governing the conduct of commercial coopera6 tion projects of United States nationals in the Socialist

7 Republic of Vietnam.

8 (b) PRINCIPLES.—It is the sense of the Congress that

9 any United States national conducting a commercial co-
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1 operation project in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

2 should adhere to the following principles:

3 (1) Seek to ensure that political or religious

4 views, sex, ethnic or national background, involve5 ment in political activities or nonviolent demonstra6 tions, or association with suspected or known dis7 sidents will not prohibit hiring, lead to harassment,

8 demotion, or dismissal, or in any way affect the sta9 tus or terms of employment in the commercial co10 operation project. The United States national should

11 not discriminate in terms or conditions of employ12 ment in the commercial cooperation project against

13 former members of the armed forces of the Republic

14 of Vietnam (South Vietnam), former government of15 ficials of the Republic of Vietnam, former employees

16 of the United States Government in the Republic of

17 Vietnam, former employees of United States Govern18 ment officials in the Republic of Vietnam, former

19 employees of United States enterprises in the Re20 public of Vietnam, and repatriated asylum-seekers

21 (so-called ‘‘boat people’’).

22 (2) Ensure that methods of production used in

23 the commercial cooperation project do not pose an

24 unnecessary physical danger to workers and neigh25 boring populations and property and that the com-
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1 mercial cooperation project does not unnecessarily

2 risk harm to the surrounding environment.

3 (3) Strive to use business enterprises that are

4 not controlled by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

5 or its authorized agents and departments as poten6 tial partners in the commercial cooperation project.

7 (4) Prohibit any military presence on the prem8 ises of the commercial cooperation project.

9 (5) Undertake to promote freedom of associa10 tion and assembly among the employees of the Unit11 ed States national, including the right of employees

12 to form collective bargaining units. The United

13 States national should protest any infringement by

14 the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

15 of these freedoms to the appropriate authorities of

16 that government and to the International Labor

17 Organization.

18 (6) Prohibit any compulsory political indoc19 trination programs from taking place on the prem20 ises of the operations of the commercial cooperation

21 project.

22 (7) Promote freedom of expression, including

23 the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information

24 and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either

25 orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or
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1 through any media. To this end, the United States

2 national should raise with appropriate authorities of

3 the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

4 concerns about restrictions on importation of foreign

5 publications.

6 (8) Undertake to promote a full accounting of

7 all Americans missing in action from the Vietnam

8 conflict.

9 (c) PROMOTION OF PRINCIPLES BY OTHER NA10 TIONS.—The Secretary of State shall forward a copy of

11 the principles described in subsection (b) to the member

12 nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

13 Development and encourage them to promote principles

14 similar to these principles.

15 SEC. 2. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each United States national con17 ducting a commercial cooperation project in the Socialist

18 Republic of Vietnam shall register with the Secretary of

19 State and indicate whether the United States national

20 agrees to implement the principles described in section

21 1(b). No fee shall be required for registration under this

22 subsection.

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The registration require24 ment of subsection (a) shall take effect 6 months after

25 the date of the enactment of this Act.
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1 SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

2 (a) REPORT.—Each United States national conduct3 ing a commercial cooperation project in the Socialist Re4 public of Vietnam shall report to the Department of State

5 describing the United States national’s adherence to the

6 principles described in section 1(b). Such national shall

7 submit a completed reporting form furnished by the De8 partment of State. The first report shall be submitted not

9 later than 1 year after the date on which the national reg10 isters under section 2 and not later than the end of each

11 1-year period occurring thereafter.

12 (b) REVIEW OF REPORT.—The Secretary of State

13 shall review each report submitted under subsection (a)

14 and determine whether the United States national submit15 ting the report is adhering to the principles described in

16 section 1(b). The Secretary may request additional infor17 mation from the United States national and other sources

18 to verify the information submitted.

19 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary of State shall

20 submit a report to the Congress and to the Secretariat

21 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel22 opment, describing the level of adherence to the principles

23 described in section 1(b) by United States nationals sub24 ject to the reporting requirement of subsection (a). This

25 report shall be submitted not later than 2 years after the
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1 date of the enactment of this Act and not later than the

2 end of each 1-year period occurring thereafter.

3 SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.

4 (a) SUPPORT.—Departments and agencies of the

5 United States may only intercede with a foreign govern6 ment or foreign national regarding export marketing activ7 ity in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on behalf of a

8 United States national subject to the reporting require9 ments of section 3(a) if that United States national ad10 heres to the principles.

11 (b) TYPE OF CONTACT.—The term ‘‘intercede with

12 a foreign government or foreign national’’ includes any

13 contact by an officer or employee of the United States with

14 officials of any foreign government or foreign national in15 volving or contemplating any effort to assist in selling a

16 good, service, or technology in the Socialist Republic of

17 Vietnam. Such term does not include multilateral or bilat18 eral government-to-government trade negotiations in19 tended to resolve trade issues which may affect United

20 States nationals who do not adhere to the principles.

21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take

22 effect 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

23 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

24 For purposes of this Act—
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1 (1) the terms ‘‘adhere to the principles’’, ‘‘ad2 hering to the principles’’ and ‘‘adherence to the prin3 ciples’’ mean—

4 (A) agreeing to implement the principles

5 described in section 1(b);

6 (B) implementing those principles by tak7 ing good faith measures with respect to each

8 such principle; and

9 (C) reporting accurately to the Department

10 of State on the measures taken to implement

11 those principles;

12 (2) the term ‘‘commercial cooperation project’’

13 refers to a for-profit activity the business operations

14 of which employ more than 25 individuals or have

15 assets greater than $25,000; and

16 (3) the term ‘‘United States national’’ means—

17 (A) a citizen or national of the United

18 States or a permanent resident of the United

19 States; and

20 (B) a corporation, partnership, and other

21 business association organized under the laws

22 of the United States, any State or territory

23 thereof, the District of Columbia, the Common24 wealth of Puerto Rico, or the Commonwealth of

25 the Northern Mariana Islands.
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