I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 672

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by United States

persons doing business in Northern Ireland.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 27, 1993

Mr. FISH (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. MANTON, Mr. SHAYS, and Mr.

ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means, and Rules

A BILL

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by

United States persons doing business in Northern Ireland.

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 ‘‘Northern Ireland Fair

5 Employment Practices Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) Overall unemployment in Northern Ireland

9 exceeds 15 percent.
2

•HR 672 IH

1 (2) Unemployment in some neighborhoods of

2 Northern Ireland comprised of religious minorities

3 has exceeded 70 percent.

4 (3) The British Government Fair Employment

5 Commission (F.E.C.), formerly the Fair Employ6 ment Agency (F.E.A.), has consistently reported

that a member of the minority community is 21 7 ⁄2

8 times more likely to be unemployed than a member

9 of the majority community.

10 (4) The Investor Responsibility Research Cen11 ter (IRRC), Washington, DC, lists 40 United States

12 companies with more than 10 employees, 30 with 10

13 or fewer employees, and 4 privately held companies

14 with 10 or fewer employees, doing business in

15 Northern Ireland.

16 (5) The religious minority population of North17 ern Ireland is frequently subject to discriminatory

18 hiring practices by United States businesses which

19 have resulted in a disproportionate number of mi20 nority individuals holding menial and low-paying

21 jobs.

22 (6) The MacBride Principles are a nine point

23 set of guidelines for fair employment in Northern

24 Ireland which establishes a corporate code of con25 duct to promote equal access to regional employment
3

•HR 672 IH

1 but does not require disinvestment, quotas, or re2 verse discrimination.

3 SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON IMPORTS.

4 An article from Northern Ireland may not be entered,

5 or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, in the cus6 toms territory of the United States unless there is pre7 sented at the time of entry to the customs officer con8 cerned documentation indicating that the enterprise which

9 manufactured or assembled such article was in compliance

10 at the time of manufacture with the principles described

11 in section 5.

12 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRIN13 CIPLES.

14 (a) COMPLIANCE.—Any United States person who—

15 (1) has a branch or office in Northern Ireland,

16 or

17 (2) controls a corporation, partnership, or other

18 enterprise in Northern Ireland,

19 in which more than 20 people are employed shall take the

20 necessary steps to insure that, in operating such branch,

21 office, corporation, partnership, or enterprise, those prin22 ciples relating to employment practices set forth in section

23 5 are implemented and this Act is complied with.

24 (b) REPORT.—Each United States person referred to

25 in subsection (a) shall submit to the Secretary—
4

•HR 672 IH

1 (1) a detailed and fully documented annual re2 port, signed under oath, on showing compliance with

3 the provisions of this Act; and

4 (2) such other information as the Secretary de5 termines is necessary.

6 SEC. 5. MACBRIDE PRINCIPLES.

7 The principles referred to in section 4, which are

8 based on the MacBride Principles, are as follows:

9 (1) Eliminating religious discrimination in man10 agerial, supervisory, administrative, clerical, and

11 technical jobs and significantly increasing the rep12 resentation in such jobs of individuals from

13 underrepresented religious groups.

14 (2) Providing adequate security for the protec15 tion of minority employees at the workplace.

16 (3) Banning provocative sectarian and political

17 emblems from the workplace.

18 (4) Advertising publicly all job openings and

19 undertaking special recruitment efforts to attract

20 applicants from underrepresented religious groups.

21 (5) Establishing layoff, recall, and termination

22 procedures which do not favor particular religious

23 groupings.

24 (6) Providing equal employment for all employ25 ees, including implementing equal and nondiscrim-
5

•HR 672 IH

1 inatory terms and conditions of employment for all

2 employees, and abolishing job reservations, appren3 ticeship restrictions, and differential employment cri4 teria, which discriminate on the basis of religion or

5 ethnic origin.

6 (7) Developing training programs that will pre7 pare substantial numbers of minority employees for

8 managerial, supervisory, administrative, clerical, and

9 technical jobs, including—

10 (A) expanding existing programs and form11 ing new programs to train, upgrade, and im12 prove the skills of all categories of minority

13 employees;

14 (B) creating on-the-job training programs

15 and facilities to assist minority employees to ad16 vance to higher paying jobs requiring greater

17 skills; and

18 (C) establishing and expanding programs

19 to enable minority employees to further their

20 education and skills at recognized education

21 facilities.

22 (8) Establishing procedures to assess, identify,

23 and actively recruit minority individuals with poten24 tial for further advancement, and identifying those

25 minority individuals who have high management po-
6

•HR 672 IH

1 tential and enrolling them in accelerated manage2 ment programs.

3 (9) Appointing a senior management staff

4 member to oversee the United States person’s com5 pliance with the principles described in this section.

6 SEC. 6. WAIVER OF PROVISIONS.

7 (a) WAIVER OF PROVISIONS.—In any case in which

8 the President determines that compliance by a United

9 States person with the provisions of this Act would harm

10 the national security of the United States, the President

11 may waive those provisions with respect to that United

12 States person. The President shall publish in the Federal

13 Register each waiver granted under this section and shall

14 submit to the Congress a justification for granting each

15 such waiver. Any such waiver shall become effective at the

16 end of 90 days after the date on which the justification

17 is submitted to the Congress unless the Congress, within

18 that 90-day period, adopts a joint resolution disapproving

19 the waiver. In the computation of such 90-day period,

20 there shall be excluded the days on which either House

21 of Congress is not in session because of an adjournment

22 of more than three days to a day certain or because of

23 an adjournment of the Congress sine die.

24 (b) CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS.—
7

•HR 672 IH

1 (1) Any resolution described in subsection (a)

2 shall be considered in the Senate in accordance with

3 the provisions of section 601(b) of the International

4 Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of

5 1976.

6 (2) For the purpose of expediting the consider7 ation and adoption of a resolution under subsection

8 (a) in the House of Representatives, a motion to

9 proceed to the consideration of such resolution after

10 it has been reported by the appropriate committee

11 shall be treated as highly privileged in the House of

12 Representatives.

13 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS AND PRESUMPTIONS.

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act—

15 (1) the term ‘‘United States person’’ means any

16 United States resident or national and any domestic

17 concern (including any permanent domestic estab18 lishment of any foreign concern);

19 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

20 of Commerce; and

21 (3) the term ‘‘Northern Ireland’’ includes the

22 counties of Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down,

23 Tyrone, and Fermanagh.
8

•HR 672 IH

1 (b) PRESUMPTION.—A United States person shall be

2 presumed to control a corporation, partnership, or other

3 enterprise in Northern Ireland if—

4 (1) the United States person beneficially owns

5 or controls (whether directly or indirectly) more than

6 50 percent of the outstanding voting securities of

7 the corporation, partnership, or enterprise;

8 (2) the United States person beneficially owns

9 or controls (whether directly or indirectly) 25 per10 cent or more of the voting securities of the corpora11 tion, partnership, or enterprise, if no other person

12 owns or controls (whether directly or indirectly) an

13 equal or larger percentage;

14 (3) the corporation, partnership, or enterprise

15 is operated by the United States person pursuant to

16 the provisions of an exclusive management contract;

17 (4) a majority of the members of the board of

18 directors of the corporation, partnership, or enter19 prise are also members of the comparable governing

20 body of the United States person;

21 (5) the United States person has authority to

22 appoint the majority of the members of the board of

23 directors of the corporation, partnership, or enter24 prise; or
9

•HR 672 IH

1 (6) the United States person has authority to

2 appoint the chief operating officer of the corpora3 tion, partnership, or enterprise.

4 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

5 This Act shall take effect 6 months after the date

6 of enactment of this Act.

Æ