II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 184

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles of Economic Justice

by United States persons doing business in Northern Ireland, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21, 1997

Mr. D’AMATO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles of

Economic Justice by United States persons doing business in Northern Ireland, and for other purposes.

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 and Principles of Economic Justice

6 Act of 1997’’.

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Currently, overall unemployment in North2 ern Ireland is approximately 13 percent, as com3 pared to 9 percent in the rest of the United King4 dom.

5 (2) Unemployment in the minority community

6 in Northern Ireland is 16 percent (22 percent for

7 males and 8 percent for females), and in some por8 tions of the minority community unemployment has

9 historically exceeded 70 percent.

10 (3) The British Government Fair Employment

11 Commission (F.E.C.), formerly the Fair Employ12 ment Agency (F.E.A.), has consistently reported

13 that a member of the minority community is two

14 times more likely to be unemployed than a member

15 of the majority community.

16 (4) The Investor Responsibility Research Cen17 ter (IRRC), Washington, District of Columbia, lists

18 more than 90 United States companies doing busi19 ness in Northern Ireland, which employ approxi20 mately 11,000 individuals.

21 (5) The religious minority population of North22 ern Ireland is subject to discriminatory hiring prac23 tices by some United States businesses.

24 (6) The MacBride Principles are a nine point

25 set of guidelines for fair employment in Northern
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1 Ireland which establishes a corporate code of con2 duct to promote equal access to regional employment

3 but does not require disinvestment, quotas, or re4 verse discrimination.

5 SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON IMPORTS.

6 An article from Northern Ireland may not be entered,

7 or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, in the cus8 toms territory of the United States unless there is pre9 sented at the time of entry to the customs officer con10 cerned documentation indicating that the enterprise which

11 manufactured or assembled such article was in compliance

12 at the time of manufacture with the principles described

13 in section 5.

14 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRIN15 CIPLES.

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

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

18 or

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

20 enterprise in Northern Ireland,

21 in which more than ten people are employed shall take

22 the necessary steps to ensure that, in operating such

23 branch, office, corporation, partnership, or enterprise,

24 those principles relating to employment practices set forth
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1 in section 5 are implemented and this Act is complied

2 with.

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

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

5 (1) a detailed and fully documented annual re6 port, signed under oath, on showing compliance with

7 the provisions of this Act; and

8 (2) such other information as the Secretary de9 termines is necessary.

10 SEC. 5. MAC BRIDE PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC JUSTICE.

11 The principles referred to in section 4 are the

12 MacBride Principles of Economic Justice, which are as

13 follows:

14 (1) Increasing the representation of individuals

15 from underrepresented religious groups in the

16 workforce, including managerial, supervisory, admin17 istrative, clerical, and technical jobs.

18 (2) Providing adequate security for the protec19 tion of minority employees at the workplace.

20 (3) Banning provocative sectarian or political

21 emblems from the workplace.

22 (4) Providing that all job openings be adver23 tised publicly and providing that special recruitment

24 efforts be made to attract applicants from underrep25 resented religious groups.
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1 (5) Providing that layoff, recall, and termi2 nation procedures do not favor a particular religious

3 group.

4 (6) Abolishing job reservations, apprenticeship

5 restrictions, and differential employment criteria

6 which discriminate on the basis of religion.

7 (7) Providing for the development of training

8 programs that will prepare substantial numbers of

9 minority employees for skilled jobs, including the ex10 pansion of existing programs and the creation of

11 new programs to train, upgrade, and improve the

12 skills of minority employees.

13 (8) Establishing procedures to assess, identify,

14 and actively recruit minority employees with the po15 tential for further advancement.

16 (9) Providing for the appointment of a senior

17 management staff member to be responsible for the

18 employment efforts of the entity and, within a rea19 sonable period of time, the implementation of the

20 principles described in paragraphs (1) through (8).

21 SEC. 6. PROHIBITION.

22 Nothing in this Act shall require quotas or reverse

23 discrimination or mandate their use.
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1 SEC. 7. WAIVER OF PROVISIONS.

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

3 the President determines that compliance by a United

4 States person with the provisions of this Act would harm

5 the national security of the United States, the President

6 may waive those provisions with respect to that United

7 States person. The President shall publish in the Federal

8 Register each waiver granted under this section and shall

9 submit to the Congress a justification for granting each

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

11 end of ninety days after the date on which the justification

12 is submitted to the Congress unless the Congress, within

13 that ninety-day period, adopts a joint resolution dis14 approving the waiver. In the computation of such ninety15 day period, there shall be excluded the days on which ei16 ther House of Congress is not in session because of an

17 adjournment of more than three days to a day certain or

18 because of an adjournment of the Congress sine die.

19 (b) CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTIONS.—

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

21 shall be considered in the Senate in accordance with

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

23 Security Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of

24 1976.

25 (2) For the purpose of expediting the consider26 ation and adoption of a resolution under subsection
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1 (a) in the House of Representatives, a motion to

2 proceed to the consideration of such resolution after

3 it has been reported by the appropriate committee

4 shall be treated as highly privileged in the House of

5 Representatives.

6 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS AND PRESUMPTIONS.

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of this Act—

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

9 United States resident or national and any domestic

10 concern (including any permanent domestic estab11 lishment of any foreign concern);

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

13 of Commerce; and

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

15 counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Tyrone,

16 and Fermanagh.

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

18 presumed to control a corporation, partnership, or other

19 enterprise in Northern Ireland if—

20 (1) the United States person beneficially owns

21 or controls (whether directly or indirectly) more than

22 50 percent of the outstanding voting securities of

23 the corporation, partnership, or enterprise;
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1 (2) the United States person beneficially owns

2 or controls (whether directly or indirectly) 25 per3 cent or more of the voting securities of the corpora4 tion, partnership, or enterprise, if no other person

5 owns or controls (whether directly or indirectly) an

6 equal or larger percentage;

7 (3) the corporation, partnership, or enterprise

8 is operated by the United States person pursuant to

9 the provisions of an exclusive management contract;

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

11 directors of the corporation, partnerships, or enter12 prise are also members of the comparable governing

13 body of the United States person;

14 (5) the United States person has authority to

15 appoint the majority of the members of the board of

16 directors of the corporation, partnership, or enter17 prise; or

18 (6) the United States person has authority to

19 appoint the chief operating officer of the corpora20 tion, partnership, or enterprise.

21 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.

22 This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of

23 enactment of this Act.

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