II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2574

To provide for principles on workers’ rights for United States companies

doing business in the People’s Republic of China and Tibet.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 17, 2000

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To provide for principles on workers’ rights for United States

companies doing business in the People’s Republic of

China and Tibet.

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 ‘‘Workers’ Rights Prin5 ciples for United States Businesses in China Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.

7 (a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to estab8 lish principles on workers’ rights for United States compa9 nies that do business in the People’s Republic of China

10 and in Tibet.
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1 (b) PRINCIPLES.—It is the sense of Congress that

2 any United States company doing business in the People’s

3 Republic of China or Tibet shall, within its facilities and

4 those of its suppliers in the People’s Republic of China

5 or Tibet, do the following:

6 (1) Prohibit the manufacture of goods or prod7 ucts by bonded labor or forced labor within prison

8 camps or as part of reform-through-labor or reedu9 cation-through-labor programs.

10 (2) Provide wages that meet workers’ basic

11 needs and provide fair and decent working hours, in12 cluding at a minimum, adhering to the wage and

13 hour guidelines under the national labor laws and

14 policies of the People’s Republic of China.

15 (3) Use production methods that do not nega16 tively affect the occupational safety and health of

17 workers.

18 (4) Prohibit the use of corporal punishment, as

19 well as any physical, sexual, or verbal abuse or har20 assment, of workers.

21 (5) Refrain from seeking police or military

22 intervention to prevent workers from exercising their

23 rights.

24 (6) Promote the following freedoms among their

25 employees and the employees of their suppliers: free-
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1 dom of association and assembly (including the right

2 to form unions and to bargain collectively); freedom

3 of expression; and freedom from arbitrary arrest or

4 detention.

5 (7) Prohibit discrimination in hiring, remunera6 tion, or promotion based on age, gender, marital sta7 tus, pregnancy, ethnicity, or region of origin.

8 (8) Prohibit discrimination in hiring, remunera9 tion, or promotion based on labor, political, or reli10 gious activity, on involvement in demonstrations,

11 past records of arrests or internal exile for peaceful

12 protest, or on membership in organizations com13 mitted to nonviolent social or political change.

14 (9) Use environmentally responsible methods of

15 production that have minimal adverse impact on

16 land, air, and water quality.

17 (10) Prohibit child labor, including at a min18 imum, complying with guidelines on minimum age

19 for employment under the national labor laws of the

20 People’s Republic of China.

21 (c) PROMOTION OF PRINCIPLES BY OTHER NA22 TIONS.—The Secretary of State shall forward a copy of

23 the principles set forth in subsection (b) to each member

24 nation of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
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1 Development and encourage such nation to promote prin2 ciples similar to such principles.

3 SEC. 3. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.

4 (a) REQUIREMENT.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each United States com6 pany conducting business in the People’s Republic of

7 China or Tibet shall register with the Secretary of

8 State and indicate whether such company agrees to

9 implement the principles set forth in section 2(b).

10 (2) PROHIBITION ON FEE.—No fee shall be re11 quired for purposes of registration under paragraph

12 (1).

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef14 fect 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

15 SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

16 (a) REPORTS BY UNITED STATES COMPANIES.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each United States com18 pany conducting business in the People’s Republic of

19 China or Tibet shall submit to the Secretary of

20 State a report describing such company’s adherence

21 to the principles set forth in section 2(b) during the

22 one-year period ending on the date of such report.

23 (2) FORM.—The report shall be submitted on a

24 form furnished by the Secretary.
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1 (3) SUBMITTAL DATES.—A United States com2 pany shall submit the report required by paragraph

3 (1) not later than one year after the date on which

4 the company registers under section 3 and annually

5 thereafter.

6 (b) REVIEW OF REPORTS.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review

8 each report submitted under subsection (a) to deter9 mine whether the United States company submitting

10 such report is adhering to the principles set forth in

11 section 2(b).

12 (2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—The Secretary

13 may request additional information from a United

14 States company for purposes of the review of its re15 port under this subsection, and may use other

16 sources of information to verify the information con17 tained in such report.

18 (c) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than two years

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually

20 thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress and to

21 the Secretariat of the Organization for Economic Coopera22 tion and Development a report assessing the adherence of

23 United States companies subject to the reporting require24 ment in subsection (a) to the principles set forth in section
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1 2(b). Each report shall cover the one-year period ending

2 on the date of such report.

3 SEC. 5. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.

4 (a) SUPPORT.—A department or agency of the

5 United States Government may intercede with a foreign

6 government or foreign national regarding export mar7 keting activity in the People’s Republic of China or Tibet

8 on behalf of a United States company subject to the re9 porting requirement in section 4(a) only if the United

10 States company adheres to the principles set forth in sec11 tion 2(b).

12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef13 fect two years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

14 SEC. 6. ANNUAL PUBLIC HEARING ON ADHERENCE OF

15 UNITED STATES COMPANIES TO PRINCIPLES.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the

17 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter,

18 the Secretary of State shall conduct a public hearing on

19 the adherence of United States companies doing business

20 in the People’s Republic of China or Tibet to the principles

21 set forth in section 2(b).

22 (b) HEARING REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall

23 conduct each hearing under subsection (a) in an appro24 priate forum and in a manner intended to facilitate wide25 spread public participation in the hearing.
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) ADHERE.—The terms ‘‘adhere to’’, ‘‘adher4 ing to’’, and ‘‘adherence to’’, in the case of the prin5 ciples set forth in section 2(b), mean—

6 (A) agreeing to implement the principles;

7 (B) implementing the principles by taking

8 good faith measures with respect to each prin9 ciple; and

10 (C) reporting accurately to the Secretary

11 of State on the measures taken to implement

12 the principles.

13 (2) INTERCEDE WITH A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT

14 OR FOREIGN NATIONAL.—

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘intercede

16 with a foreign government or foreign national’’

17 includes any contact by an officer or employee

18 of the United States with officials of any for19 eign government or foreign national involving or

20 contemplating any effort to assist in selling a

21 good, service, or technology in the People’s Re22 public of China or Tibet.

23 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term does not in24 clude multilateral or bilateral government-to25 government trade negotiations intended to re26 solve trade issues which may affect United
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1 States parent companies which do not adhere to

2 the principles set forth in section 2(b).

3 (3) ORGANIZED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE

4 UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘organized under the

5 laws of the United States’’ means organized under

6 the laws of the United States, any State of the

7 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com8 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the

9 Northern Mariana Islands, or any other territory or

10 possession of the United States.

11 (4) UNITED STATES COMPANY.—The term

12 ‘‘United States company’’ means a corporation,

13 partnership, or other business association organized

14 under the laws of the United States.

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