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[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 470 Introduced in House (IH)]

                                    

104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 470

To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by United States 
              persons doing business in Northern Ireland.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 1995

Mr. Gilman (for himself and Mr. Manton) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations and, in 
 addition, to the Committees on Ways and Means and Rules, for a period 
    to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by United States 
              persons doing business in Northern Ireland.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Northern Ireland Fair Employment 
Practices Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Currently, overall unemployment in Northern Ireland is 
        approximately 13 percent, as compared to 9 percent in the rest 
        of the United Kingdom.
            (2) Unemployment in the minority community in Northern 
        Ireland is 22.8 percent, and in some portions of the minority 
        community unemployment has historically exceeded 70 percent.
            (3) The British Government Fair Employment Commission 
        (F.E.C.), formerly the Fair Employment Agency (F.E.A.), has 
        consistently reported that a member of the minority community 
        is two times more likely to be unemployed than a member of the 
        majority community.
            (4) The Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), 
        Washington, District of Columbia, lists 80 publicly held United 
        States companies doing business in Northern Ireland, which 
        employ approximately 11,000 individuals.
            (5) The religious minority population of Northern Ireland 
        is subject to discriminatory hiring practices by some United 
        States businesses which have resulted in a disproportionate 
        number of minority individuals holding menial and low-paying 
        jobs.
            (6) The MacBride Principles are a nine point set of 
        guidelines for fair employment in Northern Ireland which 
        establishes a corporate code of conduct to promote equal access 
        to regional employment but does not require disinvestment, 
        quotas, or reverse discrimination.

SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON IMPORTS.

    An article from Northern Ireland may not be entered, or withdrawn 
from warehouse for consumption, in the customs territory of the United 
States unless there is presented at the time of entry to the customs 
officer concerned documentation indicating that the enterprise which 
manufactured or assembled such article was in compliance at the time of 
manufacture with the principles described in section 5.

SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRINCIPLES.

    (a) Compliance.--Any United States person who--
            (1) has a branch or office in Northern Ireland, or
            (2) controls a corporation, partnership, or other 
        enterprise in Northern Ireland,
in which more than twenty people are employed shall take the necessary 
steps to ensure that, in operating such branch, office, corporation, 
partnership, or enterprise, those principles relating to employment 
practices set forth in section 5 are implemented and this Act is 
complied with.
    (b) Report.--Each United States person referred to in subsection 
(a) shall submit to the Secretary--
            (1) a detailed and fully documented annual report, signed 
        under oath, on showing compliance with the provisions of this 
        Act; and
            (2) such other information as the Secretary determines is 
        necessary.

SEC. 5. MACBRIDE PRINCIPLES.

    The principles referred to in section 4 are the MacBride 
Principles, which are as follows:
            (1) Increasing the representation of individuals from 
        underrepresented religious groups in the work force including 
        managerial, supervisory, administrative, clerical, and 
        technical jobs.--A workforce that is severely unbalanced may 
        indicate prima facie that full equality of opportunity is not 
        being afforded all segments of the community in Northern 
        Ireland. Each signatory to the MacBride Principles must make 
        every reasonable lawful effort to increase the representation 
        of underrepresented religious groups at all levels of its 
        operations in Northern Ireland.
            (2) Adequate security for the protection of minority 
        employees both at the workplace and while travelling to and 
        from work.--While total security can be guaranteed nowhere 
        today in Northern Ireland, each signatory to the MacBride 
        Principles must make reasonable good faith efforts to protect 
        workers against intimidation and physical abuse at the 
        workplace. Signatories must also make reasonable good faith 
        efforts to ensure that applicants are not deterred from seeking 
        employment because of fear for their personal safety at the 
        workplace or while travelling to and from work.
            (3) The banning of provocative religious or political 
        emblems from the workplace.--Each signatory to the MacBride 
        Principles must make reasonable good faith efforts to prevent 
        the display of provocative sectarian emblems at their plants in 
        Northern Ireland.
            (4) All job openings should be advertised publicly and 
        special recruitment efforts made to attract applicants from 
        underrepresented religious groups.--Signatories to the MacBride 
        Principles must exert special efforts to attract employment 
        applications from the sectarian community that is substantially 
        underrepresented in the workforce. This should not be construed 
        to imply a diminution of opportunity for other applicants.
            (5) Layoff, recall, and termination procedures should not 
        in practice favor a particular religious group.--Each signatory 
        to the MacBride Principles must make reasonable good faith 
        efforts to ensure that layoff, recall, and termination 
        procedures do not penalize a particular religious group 
        disproportionately. Layoff and termination practices that 
        involve seniority solely can result in discrimination against a 
        particular religious group if the bulk of employees with 
        greatest seniority are disproportionately from another 
        religious group.
            (6) The abolition of job reservations, apprenticeship 
        restrictions, and differential employment criteria which 
        discriminate on the basis of religion.--Signatories to the 
        MacBride Principles must make reasonable good faith efforts to 
        abolish all differential employment criteria whose effect is 
        discrimination on the basis of religion. For example, job 
        reservations, and apprenticeship regulations that favor 
        relatives of current or former employees can, in practice, 
        promote religious discrimination if the company's workforce has 
        historically been disproportionately drawn from another 
        religious group.
            (7) The development of training programs that will prepare 
        substantial numbers of current minority employees for skilled 
        jobs, including the expansion of existing programs and the 
        creation of new programs to train, upgrade, and improve the 
        skills of minority employees.--This does not imply that such 
        programs should not be open to all members of the workforce 
        equally.
            (8) The establishment of procedures to assess, identify, 
        and actively recruit minority employees with potential for 
        further advancement.--This section does not imply that such 
        procedures should not apply to all employees equally.
            (9) The appointment of a senior management staff member to 
        oversee the company's affirmative action efforts and the 
        setting up of timetables to carry out affirmative action 
        principles.--In addition to the above, each signatory to the 
        MacBride Principles is required to report annually to an 
        independent monitoring agency on its progress in the 
        implementation of these Principles.

SEC. 6. WAIVER OF PROVISIONS.

    (a) Waiver of Provisions.--In any case in which the President 
determines that compliance by a United States person with the 
provisions of this Act would harm the national security of the United 
States, the President may waive those provisions with respect to that 
United States person. The President shall publish in the Federal 
Register each waiver granted under this section and shall submit to the 
Congress a justification for granting each such waiver. Any such waiver 
shall become effective at the end of ninety days after the date on 
which the justification is submitted to the Congress unless the 
Congress, within that ninety-day period, adopts a joint resolution 
disapproving the waiver. In the computation of such ninety-day period, 
there shall be excluded the days on which either House of Congress is 
not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a 
day certain or because of an adjournment of the Congress sine die.
    (b) Consideration of Resolutions.--
            (1) Any resolution described in subsection (a) shall be 
        considered in the Senate in accordance with the provisions of 
        section 601(b) of the International Security Assistance and 
        Arms Export Control Act of 1976.
            (2) For the purpose of expediting the consideration and 
        adoption of a resolution under subsection (a) in the House of 
        Representatives, a motion to proceed to the consideration of 
        such resolution after it has been reported by the appropriate 
        committee shall be treated as highly privileged in the House of 
        Representatives.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS AND PRESUMPTIONS.

    (a) Definitions.--For the purpose of this Act--
            (1) the term ``United States person'' means any United 
        States resident or national and any domestic concern (including 
        any permanent domestic establishment of any foreign concern);
            (2) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Commerce; 
        and
            (3) the term ``Northern Ireland'' includes the counties of 
        Antrim, Armagh, Londonderry, Down, Tyrone, and Fermanagh.
    (b) Presumption.--A United States person shall be presumed to 
control a corporation, partnership, or other enterprise in Northern 
Ireland if--
            (1) the United States person beneficially owns or controls 
        (whether directly or indirectly) more than 50 percent of the 
        outstanding voting securities of the corporation, partnership, 
        or enterprise;
            (2) the United States person beneficially owns or controls 
        (whether directly or indirectly) 25 percent or more of the 
        voting securities of the corporation, partnership, or 
        enterprise, if no other person owns or controls (whether 
        directly or indirectly) an equal or larger percentage;
            (3) the corporation, partnership, or enterprise is operated 
        by the United States person pursuant to the provisions of an 
        exclusive management contract;
            (4) a majority of the members of the board of directors of 
        the corporation, partnership, or enterprise are also members of 
        the comparable governing body of the United States person;
            (5) the United States person has authority to appoint the 
        majority of the members of the board of directors of the 
        corporation, partnership, or enterprise; or
            (6) the United States person has authority to appoint the 
        chief operating officer of the corporation, partnership, or 
        enterprise.

SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>
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