I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4443 
To ensure that certain goods made with child labor or forced labor in the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo do not enter the United States market, 
to counter control of strategic metals and minerals by the People’s 
Republic of China, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2023 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees 
on Ways and Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To ensure that certain goods made with child labor or forced 
labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo do not 
enter the United States market, to counter control of 
strategic metals and minerals by the People’s Republic 
of China, 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 ‘‘Countering China’s 
Exploitation of Strategic Metals and Minerals and Child 
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and Forced Labor in the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Cobalt is an essential component of lithium- 
ion batteries, which are predominantly used for elec-
tric vehicles, smartphones, and laptops, among other 
electronic devices. According to the International 
Energy Agency, the world is expected to see a 40- 
fold increase in lithium demand and a 20-fold in-
crease in cobalt demand by 2040, as the demand for 
electric vehicles is expected to grow significantly dur-
ing this period. 
(2) In 2021, global sales of electric vehicles 
doubled compared to 2020, reaching its new record 
of 6.6 million, and bringing the total number of elec-
tric vehicles in use to 16.5 million electric vehicles 
by the end of 2021. The People’s Republic of China 
(‘‘PRC’’) accounted for half of those sales, with over 
150 percent growth in electric vehicle sales in that 
country compared to 2020. In the first quarter of 
2022, an additional 2 million electric vehicles were 
sold worldwide, showing strong continued growth. 
While Europe and the United States saw increased 
sales, the PRC experienced an unprecedented tri-
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pling of electric vehicle sales of 3.3 million in 2022, 
accounting for approximately one-half of the global 
sales. 
(3) The concentration of global cobalt supply 
and production in the Democratic Republic of the 
Congo (‘‘DRC’’) as well as civil unrest and govern-
mental corruption, heighten the vulnerabilities and 
risks of global supply chain disruptions. More than 
one-half of the world’s cobalt resources are in the 
DRC, which supplies approximately 70 percent of 
the global cobalt mine production in 2021. The DRC 
remains beset by conflicts and pervasive official cor-
ruption. Firms based in the PRC hold a dominant 
position in DRC’s cobalt sector, according to the 
White House. On the foundation of an unstable 
state, more than one-half of lithium and cobalt glob-
al supplies are processed and refined in the PRC, 
where more than 75 percent of all lithium-ion bat-
teries are produced. About 50 percent of all batteries 
are for consumption in the PRC. 
(4) Lithium deposits have been identified in the 
DRC, with exploration ongoing. It is estimated that 
the DRC can begin lithium production as early as 
2023. 
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(5) Approximately 15 to 30 percent of cobalt 
produced in the DRC comes from artisanal and 
small-scale mining. An estimated 255,000 miners 
work in artisanal and small-scale mining in the 
DRC, of whom at least 40,000 are children. 
(6) The child miners in the DRC, some as 
young as 6 years of age, working in artisanal and 
small-scale mines, are subjected to the worst forms 
of forced manual labor. They work in harsh and life- 
threatening conditions, and are vulnerable to phys-
ical injuries, coercion, and abuse in addition to expo-
sure to harmful toxins. 
(7) Amnesty International reported in 2016 
that child miners in the DRC’s cobalt sector worked 
for up to 12 hours a day in the mines without the 
most basic protective gear, such as gloves and face 
masks which would protect them from lung and skin 
disease. Many children reportedly worked for pro-
longed periods underground, including at sites with 
inadequate ventilation and a high risk of fatal 
mineshaft collapse. Child miners interviewed by Am-
nesty International reported working for up to 12 
hours a day in the mines, carrying heavy loads and 
being paid less than two dollars per day. 
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(8) According to a tally by Amnesty Inter-
national, based on news reports, at least 80 under-
ground miners working in artisanal and small-scale 
mining died in southeastern DRC between Sep-
tember 2014 and December 2015. Amnesty Inter-
national assessed that the ‘‘true figure is unknown 
as many accidents go unrecorded and bodies are left 
buried in the rubble’’. To this day, there is no offi-
cial tally of the total number of such deaths. 
(9) As of 2020, 15 of the 19 cobalt mines in 
the DRC were owned or financed by PRC compa-
nies. 
(10) The 5 biggest PRC-owned mining compa-
nies in the DRC have lines of credit from PRC 
state-owned banks totaling $124 billion. 
(11) China Molybdenum, a PRC mining and 
trading company, is the second-largest producer of 
cobalt worldwide. In 2016, it purchased Tenke 
Fungurume, which controlled one of the largest co-
balt reserves in the world. More than $1.59 billion 
of the $2.65 billion came from loans from PRC 
state-owned banks. 
(12) Under PRC ownership of mining compa-
nies in the DRC, there has been reportedly a signifi-
cant rise in serious injuries. There are questions re-
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garding proper oversight of safety in the mines, as 
well as coverups of deaths and injuries. 
(13) In July 2021, PRC mining company man-
agers in Kolwezi ordered the brutal beating and 
whipping of miners. 
(14) On July 14, 2022, the Tom Lantos 
Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan congres-
sional commission, held a hearing on ‘‘Child Labor 
and Human Rights Violations in the Mining Indus-
try of the Democratic Republic of Congo’’. The hear-
ing highlighted the concerns of child and forced 
labor in the DRC, the disregard of worker safety, 
and environmental degradation. It also highlighted 
PRC domination of strategic metals and minerals in 
the global supply chain. 
(15) In the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Re-
port, the Department of State emphasized that ‘‘In 
the øDRC,¿ artisanal and small-scale mining of co-
balt has been associated with forced child labor and 
other abuses’’, noting further that ‘‘Since 2015, the 
TIP Report narratives on the DRC have highlighted 
forced labor of children in artisanal cobalt mines.’’. 
The DRC is on the Tier 2 Watch List, and will be 
automatically downgraded to Tier 3, subjecting it to 
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sanctions, if it does not substantively and consist-
ently improve its record on trafficking. 
(16) Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 
U.S.C. 1307) states that it is illegal to import into 
the United States ‘‘goods, wares, articles, and mer-
chandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly 
or in part’’ by forced labor, including forced or in-
dentured child labor. Such merchandise is subject to 
exclusion or seizure and may lead to criminal inves-
tigation of the importer. 
(17) On December 13, 2022, the Governments 
of the United States, DRC, and Zambia signed a 
memorandum of understanding with regard to 
United States support for the DRC and Zambia to 
develop jointly a supply chain for electric vehicle bat-
teries, ‘‘from the mine to the assembly line, while 
also committing to respect international standards to 
prevent, detect and take legal action to fight corrup-
tion throughout this process’’. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to prohibit the importation of covered DRC 
goods; 
(2) to encourage the international community 
to prohibit the importation of covered DRC goods; 
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(3) to enforce labor provisions under Chapter 
23 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement 
(USMCA) and coordinate with Mexico and Canada 
to effectively implement Article 23.6 of the United 
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement to prohibit the im-
portation of covered DRC goods into the North 
American market; 
(4) to mitigate and prevent gross violations of 
human rights in the DRC by— 
(A) utilizing bilateral diplomatic channels 
and multinational institutions where both the 
United States and the DRC are members; and 
(B) using other applicable authorities 
available to the United States Government, in-
cluding with regard to development assistance; 
and 
(5) to combat PRC control of strategic metals 
and minerals in the global supply chain. 
SEC. 4. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT IMPORT PROHI-
BITION APPLIES TO COVERED DRC GOODS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), covered DRC goods shall be deemed to be goods, 
wares, articles, and merchandise described in section 307 
of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) and shall not 
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be entitled to entry at any of the ports of the United 
States. 
(b) EXCEPTION.—The prohibition described in sub-
section (a) shall not apply if the Commissioner of U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection— 
(1) determines, based on clear and convincing 
evidence, including information produced by due dili-
gence reviews by importers of their supply chains, 
that the covered DRC goods were not mined, pro-
duced or manufactured wholly or in part by child 
labor or forced labor; and 
(2) submits to the appropriate congressional 
committees and makes available to the public a re-
port that contains such determination. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 
on the date that is 120 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act. 
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY TO ADDRESS CHILD 
LABOR AND FORCED LABOR IN THE DRC. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Forced Labor En-
forcement Task Force, established under section 741 of 
the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementa-
tion Act (19 U.S.C. 4681), shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report that— 
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(1) contains an enforcement strategy to effec-
tively address child labor and forced labor in the 
mining, production, smelting, or processing of metals 
or minerals, in particular cobalt and lithium and 
their derivatives, in the DRC; 
(2) describes the specific strategy of the United 
States Government for enforcing section 307 of the 
Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) to prevent the 
importation into the United States of covered DRC 
goods; 
(3) describes the perpetration of child labor and 
forced labor by mining companies in the DRC owned 
or controlled by PRC entities or financed by PRC 
state-owned banks or institutions; and 
(4) recommends development and promotion of 
alternative sources of supply and production, includ-
ing within the DRC and the United States domesti-
cally. 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy re-
quired by subsection (a) shall include the following: 
(1) A description of the actions taken by the 
United States Government, including what moni-
toring and evaluation (M&E) standards were uti-
lized, to address child labor and forced labor in the 
DRC under section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 
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(19 U.S.C. 1307), including a description of all 
Withhold Release Orders issued, covered DRC goods 
detained, and fines issued. 
(2) A list of— 
(A) covered DRC goods; and 
(B) businesses that have sold covered DRC 
goods in the United States. 
(3) A list of United States-based facilities and 
entities that source metals and minerals, in par-
ticular cobalt and lithium and their derivatives, from 
the mining industry of the DRC, including artisanal 
and small-scale mining sectors. 
(4) A list of mining companies, including China 
Molybdenum, in the DRC owned or controlled by 
PRC entities, or financed by PRC state-owned banks 
or institutions. 
(5) A list of high-priority sectors for enforce-
ment, which shall include electric vehicles produc-
tion, with a sector-specific enforcement plan for each 
high-priority sector. 
(6) A description of the additional resources 
necessary for U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
and other Federal entities, including the Forced 
Labor Enforcement Task Force, to effectively imple-
ment the strategy. 
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(7) A strategy to coordinate and collaborate 
with appropriate nongovernmental organizations and 
private sector entities to implement the enforcement 
strategy for covered DRC goods. 
(c) FORM.—The report required by subsection (a) 
shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include 
a classified annex, if necessary. 
(d) UPDATES.—After the submission of the strategy 
required by subsection (a), the Forced Labor Enforcement 
Task Force shall provide briefings to the appropriate con-
gressional committees on a quarterly basis and, as applica-
ble, on any updates to the strategy required by subsection 
(a) or additional actions taken to address child labor or 
forced labor in the DRC, including actions described in 
this Act. 
(e) SUNSET.—This section shall cease to have effect 
on the earlier of— 
(1) the date that is 8 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act; or 
(2) the date on which the President submits to 
the appropriate congressional committees a deter-
mination that the DRC has ended child labor and 
forced labor in the mining industry of the DRC, in-
cluding artisanal and small-scale mining. 
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