I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2782
To require nationals of the United States that employ more than 20 persons
in a foreign country to implement a Corporate Code of Conduct with
respect to the employment of those persons, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 2, 2001
Ms. MCKINNEY (for herself, Mr. STARK, Mr. EVANS, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. FIL-
NER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. PHELPS, Mr.
KUCINICH, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. WOOLSEY,
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. LEE, Mr.
ABERCROMBIE, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. WATT of
North Carolina, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BROWN of Ohio,
and Ms. BROWN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to
the Committees on Government Reform, and Financial Services, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To require nationals of the United States that employ more
than 20 persons in a foreign country to implement a
Corporate Code of Conduct with respect to the employ-
ment of those persons, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Corporate Code of
Conduct Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) On January 31, 1999, at the World Eco-
nomic Forum, United Nations Secretary General
Kofi Annan challenged world business leaders, in
their individual corporate practices and by sup-
porting appropriate public policies, to ‘‘embrace and
enact’’ the Global Compact, an agreement that asks
corporations to protect human rights, labor rights,
and the environment.
(2)(A) On November 16, 1999, the Program on
International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) issued a re-
port that contained the results of a poll of 1,826
randomly selected adults, weighted to be demo-
graphically representative, conducted from October
21–29, 1999, relating to international agreements
on environmental and labor standards.
(B) In the poll, 93 percent of the respondents
stated that ‘‘countries that are part of international
trade agreements should be required to maintain
minimum standards for working conditions’’, 77 per-
cent of the respondents believed (of which, 48 per-
cent strongly believed) that there should be more
international agreements on environmental stand-
ards, and 88 percent of the respondents agreed (of
which, 67 percent strongly agreed) that ‘‘American
companies that operate in other countries should be
expected to abide by [United States] environmental
standards.’’.
(3) The European Parliament has passed a Eu-
ropean Code of Conduct calling for European busi-
nesses to abide by European Union laws in oper-
ations outside of Europe.
(4) The protests in 2000 against the World
Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, Washington,
and the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., demonstrate a
growing constituency against the unregulated expan-
sion of globalization.
(5) Unfortunately, too many United States
businesses with operations abroad are notorious for
their blatant disregard for the well being of the citi-
zens of their host nations who are employees of the
businesses.
(6) Many United States businesses recklessly
pollute the local environment of foreign countries,
pose serious health risks to local citizens, and
threaten the cultural heritage of local citizens.
(7) 70 percent of workers in United States pro-
duction factories abroad are women. Many of these
women face mandatory pregnancy testing on a
monthly basis and are forced to take birth control
provided by their employer.
(8) Public confidence has declined substantially
in the capacity and effectiveness of government at
all levels to counteract unfair economic competition
and to command greater corporate responsibility in-
side and outside of the marketplace.
(9) At the same time, public concern is growing
regarding the increasing concentration of unaccount-
able corporate power and the declining corporate re-
sponsibility across national borders.
(10) Yet every year the United States Govern-
ment provides a wide array of taxpayer-financed
services and financial subsidies as well as special tax
breaks as assistance to United States-based multi-
national corporations, especially to enable such cor-
porations to invest overseas, to create jobs in foreign
countries, and to expand their access to foreign mar-
kets.