I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 672
To provide for adherence with the MacBride Principles by United States
persons doing business in Northern Ireland.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 27, 1993
Mr. FISH (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. MANTON, Mr. SHAYS, and Mr.
ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means, and Rules
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 Representa-
tives 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’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Overall unemployment in Northern Ireland
exceeds 15 percent.
(2) Unemployment in some neighborhoods of
Northern Ireland comprised of religious minorities
has exceeded 70 percent.
(3) The British Government Fair Employment
Commission (F.E.C.), formerly the Fair Employ-
ment Agency (F.E.A.), has consistently reported
that a member of the minority community is 21⁄2
times more likely to be unemployed than a member
of the majority community.
(4) The Investor Responsibility Research Cen-
ter (IRRC), Washington, DC, lists 40 United States
companies with more than 10 employees, 30 with 10
or fewer employees, and 4 privately held companies
with 10 or fewer employees, doing business in
Northern Ireland.
(5) The religious minority population of North-
ern Ireland is frequently subject to discriminatory
hiring practices by United States businesses which
have resulted in a disproportionate number of mi-
nority 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 con-
duct to promote equal access to regional employment
but does not require disinvestment, quotas, or re-
verse discrimination.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON IMPORTS.
An article from Northern Ireland may not be entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, in the cus-
toms territory of the United States unless there is pre-
sented at the time of entry to the customs officer con-
cerned 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 PRIN-
CIPLES.
(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 20 people are employed shall take the
necessary steps to insure that, in operating such branch,
office, corporation, partnership, or enterprise, those prin-
ciples 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 re-
port, signed under oath, on showing compliance with
the provisions of this Act; and
(2) such other information as the Secretary de-
termines is necessary.
SEC. 5. MACBRIDE PRINCIPLES.
The principles referred to in section 4, which are
based on the MacBride Principles, are as follows:
(1) Eliminating religious discrimination in man-
agerial, supervisory, administrative, clerical, and
technical jobs and significantly increasing the rep-
resentation in such jobs of individuals from
underrepresented religious groups.
(2) Providing adequate security for the protec-
tion of minority employees at the workplace.
(3) Banning provocative sectarian and political
emblems from the workplace.
(4) Advertising publicly all job openings and
undertaking special recruitment efforts to attract
applicants from underrepresented religious groups.
(5) Establishing layoff, recall, and termination
procedures which do not favor particular religious
groupings.
(6) Providing equal employment for all employ-
ees, including implementing equal and nondiscrim-
inatory terms and conditions of employment for all
employees, and abolishing job reservations, appren-
ticeship restrictions, and differential employment cri-
teria, which discriminate on the basis of religion or
ethnic origin.
(7) Developing training programs that will pre-
pare substantial numbers of minority employees for
managerial, supervisory, administrative, clerical, and
technical jobs, including—
(A) expanding existing programs and form-
ing new programs to train, upgrade, and im-
prove the skills of all categories of minority
employees;
(B) creating on-the-job training programs
and facilities to assist minority employees to ad-
vance to higher paying jobs requiring greater
skills; and
(C) establishing and expanding programs
to enable minority employees to further their
education and skills at recognized education
facilities.
(8) Establishing procedures to assess, identify,
and actively recruit minority individuals with poten-
tial for further advancement, and identifying those
minority individuals who have high management po-
tential and enrolling them in accelerated manage-
ment programs.
(9) Appointing a senior management staff
member to oversee the United States person’s com-
pliance with the principles described in this section.
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 90 days after the date on which the justification
is submitted to the Congress unless the Congress, within
that 90-day period, adopts a joint resolution disapproving
the waiver. In the computation of such 90-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 consider-
ation 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 purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘United States person’’ means any
United States resident or national and any domestic
concern (including any permanent domestic estab-
lishment 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 per-
cent or more of the voting securities of the corpora-
tion, 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 enter-
prise 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 enter-
prise; or
(6) the United States person has authority to
appoint the chief operating officer of the corpora-
tion, partnership, or enterprise.
SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect 6 months after the date
of enactment of this Act.
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