I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6279 
To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require certain companies 
to disclose information describing any measures the company has taken 
to identify and address conditions of forced labor, slavery, human traf-
ficking, and the worst forms of child labor within the company’s supply 
chains. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 13, 2020 
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself and Mr. SMITH of New 
Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require 
certain companies to disclose information describing any 
measures the company has taken to identify and address 
conditions of forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, 
and the worst forms of child labor within the company’s 
supply chains. 
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 ‘‘Business Supply Chain 
Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 2014, the Department of Labor identi-
fied 136 goods from 74 countries around the world 
made by forced labor and child labor. 
(2) The United States is the world’s largest im-
porter, and in the 21st century, investors, con-
sumers, and broader civil society increasingly de-
mand information about the human rights impact of 
products in the United States market. 
(3) Courts have ruled that consumers do not 
have standing to bring a civil action in United 
States courts for enforcement of a provision in the 
Smoot Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 prohibiting impor-
tation of goods made with forced labor or convict 
labor, and furthermore, the provision has a broad 
exception for goods that cannot be produced in the 
United States in sufficient quantities to meet the de-
mands of American consumers from tainted goods, 
consequently, there are fewer than 40 enforcement 
actions on record in the past 80 years. 
(4) Mechanisms under Federal law to prevent 
and punish perpetrators of forced labor, slavery, 
human trafficking, and the worst forms of child 
labor in the stream of commerce suffer from prob-
lems of limited scope, broad expectations, and lack 
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of available information about goods that are pro-
duced along supply chains tainted by these crimes 
and imported by the United States. 
(5) The Trafficking Victims Protection Reau-
thorization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–193) to-
gether with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
of 2005 (Public Law 109–164) provide for the ter-
mination of Federal contracts where a Federal con-
tractor or subcontractor engages in severe forms of 
trafficking in persons or has procured a commercial 
sex act during the period of time that the grant, 
contract, or cooperative agreement is in effect, or 
uses forced labor in the performance of the grant, 
contract, or cooperative agreement. The Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act of 2005 also provides United 
States courts with criminal jurisdiction abroad over 
Federal employees, contractors, or subcontractors 
who participate in severe forms of trafficking in per-
sons or forced labor. 
(6) Executive Order 13126, Prohibition of Ac-
quisition of Products Produced by Forced or Inden-
tured 
Child 
Labor, 
Executive 
Order 
13627, 
Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking In 
Persons In Federal Contracts, and title XVII of the 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
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2013 (Public Law 112–239) have prohibited Federal 
contractors, subcontractors, and their employees 
from engaging in the following trafficking-related ac-
tivities: charging labor recruitment fees; confiscating 
passports and other identity documents of workers; 
and using fraudulent recruitment practices, includ-
ing failing to disclose basic information or making 
material misrepresentations about the terms and 
conditions of employment. Such Executive order and 
Acts also require Federal contractors, subcontrac-
tors, and their employees to maintain an anti-traf-
ficking compliance plan that includes, among other 
elements, a complaint mechanism and procedures to 
prevent subcontractors at any tier in the supply 
chain from engaging in trafficking in persons. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, 
and the worst forms of child labor are among the 
most egregious forms of abuse that humans commit 
against each other, for the sake of commercial prof-
it; 
(2) the legislative and regulatory framework to 
prevent goods produced by forced labor, slavery, 
human trafficking, and the worst forms of child 
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labor from passing into the stream of commerce in 
the United States is gravely inadequate; 
(3) legislation is necessary to provide consumers 
information on products that are free of child labor, 
forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking; and 
(4) through publicly available disclosures, busi-
nesses and consumers can avoid inadvertently pro-
moting or sanctioning these crimes through produc-
tion and purchase of raw materials, goods and fin-
ished products that have been tainted in the supply 
chains. 
SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION RELATING TO EF-
FORTS TO COMBAT THE USE OF FORCED 
LABOR, SLAVERY, TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, 
OR THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR. 
Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(15 U.S.C. 78m) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(s) DISCLOSURES RELATING TO EFFORTS TO COM-
BAT
THE USE
OF FORCED LABOR, SLAVERY, TRAF-
FICKING IN PERSONS, OR THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD 
LABOR.— 
‘‘(1) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of the Business Supply 
Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act 
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of 2020, the Commission, in consultation with the 
Secretary of State, shall promulgate regulations to 
require that any covered issuer required to file re-
ports with the Commission under this section to in-
clude annually in such reports, a disclosure whether 
the covered issuer has taken any measures during 
the year for which such reporting is required to 
identify and address conditions of forced labor, slav-
ery, human trafficking, and the worst forms of child 
labor within the covered issuer’s supply chain, and 
a description of such measures taken. Such disclo-
sure shall include, under the heading ‘Policies to Ad-
dress Forced Labor, Slavery, Human Trafficking, 
and the Worst Forms of Child Labor’, information 
describing to what extent, if any, the covered issuer 
conducts any of the following activities: 
‘‘(A) Whether the covered issuer maintains 
a policy to identify and eliminate the risks of 
forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and 
the worst forms of child labor within the cov-
ered issuer’s supply chain (such disclosure to 
include the text of the policy or substantive de-
scription of the elements of the policy), and ac-
tions the covered issuer has taken pursuant to 
or in the absence of such policy. 
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‘‘(B) Whether the covered issuer maintains 
a policy prohibiting its employees and employ-
ees of entities associated with its supply chain 
from engaging in commercial sex acts with a 
minor. 
‘‘(C) The efforts of the covered issuer to 
evaluate and address the risks of forced labor, 
slavery, human trafficking, and the worst forms 
of child labor in the product supply chain. If 
such efforts have been made, such disclosure 
shall— 
‘‘(i) describe any risks identified with-
in the supply chain, and the measures 
taken toward eliminating those risks; 
‘‘(ii) specify whether the evaluation 
was or was not conducted by a third party; 
‘‘(iii) specify whether the process in-
cludes consultation with the independent 
labor organizations (as such term is de-
fined in section 2 of the National Labor 
Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 152)), workers’ 
associations, or workers within workplaces 
and incorporates the resulting input or 
written comments from such independent 
labor organizations, workers’ associations, 
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or workers and if so, the disclosure shall 
describe the entities consulted and specify 
the method of such consultation; and 
‘‘(iv) specify the extent to which the 
process covers entities within the supply 
chain, including entities upstream in the 
product supply chain and entities across 
lines of products or services throughout the 
covered issuer’s product manufacturing. 
‘‘(D) The efforts of the covered issuer to 
ensure that audits of suppliers within the sup-
ply chain of the covered issuer are conducted 
to— 
‘‘(i) investigate the working conditions 
and labor practices of such suppliers; 
‘‘(ii) verify whether such suppliers 
have in place appropriate systems to iden-
tify risks of forced labor, slavery, human 
trafficking, and the worst forms of child 
labor within their own supply chain; and 
‘‘(iii) evaluate whether such systems 
are in compliance with the policies of the 
covered issuer or efforts in absence of such 
policies. 
‘‘(E) The efforts of the covered issuer to— 
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‘‘(i) require suppliers in the supply 
chain to attest that the manufacture of 
materials incorporated into any product 
and the recruitment of labor are carried 
out in compliance with the laws regarding 
forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, 
and the worst forms of child labor; 
‘‘(ii) maintain internal accountability 
standards, supply chain management, and 
procurement systems, and reporting proce-
dures for employees, suppliers, contractors, 
or other entities within its supply chain 
failing to meet the covered issuer’s stand-
ards 
regarding 
forced 
labor, 
slavery, 
human trafficking, and the worst forms of 
child labor, including a description of such 
standards, systems, and procedures; 
‘‘(iii) train the employees and man-
agement who have direct responsibility for 
supply chain management on issues related 
to forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, 
and the worst forms of child labor, particu-
larly with respect to mitigating risks within 
the supply chains of products; and 
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‘‘(iv) ensure that labor recruitment 
practices at all suppliers associated with 
the supply chain comply with the covered 
issuer’s policies or efforts in absence of 
such policies for eliminating exploitive 
labor practices that contribute to forced 
labor, slavery, human trafficking, and the 
worst forms of child labor, including by 
complying with audits of labor recruiters 
and disclosing the results of such audits. 
‘‘(F) The efforts of the covered issuer in 
cases where forced labor, slavery, human traf-
ficking, and the worst forms of child labor have 
been identified within the supply chain, to en-
sure that remedial action is provided to those 
who have identified as victims, including sup-
port for programs designed to prevent the re-
currence of those events within the industry or 
sector in which they have been identified. 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR AVAILABILITY OF IN-
FORMATION.— 
‘‘(A) 
DISCLOSURE
ON
COMPANY 
WEBSITE.—The regulations promulgated under 
paragraph (1) shall require that the required 
information be disclosed by the covered issuer 
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on the Internet website of the covered issuer 
through a conspicuous and easily understand-
able link to the relevant information that shall 
be labeled ‘Global Supply Chain Transparency’. 
‘‘(B) 
DISCLOSURE
ON
COMMISSION 
WEBSITE.—The Commission shall make avail-
able to the public in a searchable format on the 
Commission’s website— 
‘‘(i) a list of covered issuers required 
to disclose any measures taken by the com-
pany to identify and address conditions of 
forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, 
and the worst forms of child labor within 
the covered issuer’s supply chain, as re-
quired by this subsection; and 
‘‘(ii) a compilation of the information 
submitted under the rules issued under 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this sub-
section— 
‘‘(A) the term ‘covered issuer’ means an 
issuer that has annual worldwide global receipts 
in excess of $100,000,000; 
‘‘(B) the terms ‘forced labor’, ‘slavery’, and 
‘human trafficking’ mean any labor practice or 
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human trafficking activity in violation of na-
tional and international standards, including 
International Labor Organization Convention 
No. 182, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
of 2000 (Public Law 106–386), and acts that 
would violate the criminal provisions related to 
slavery and human trafficking under chapter 77 
of title 18, United States Code, if they had 
been committed within the jurisdiction of the 
United States; 
‘‘(C) the term ‘remedial action’ means the 
activities or systems that an issuer puts in place 
to address non-compliance identified through 
monitoring or verification, and may apply to in-
dividuals adversely affected by the non-compli-
ant conduct or address broader systematic proc-
esses; 
‘‘(D) the term ‘supply chain’, with respect 
to a covered issuer disclosing the information 
required under the regulations promulgated 
under this section, means all labor recruiters, 
suppliers of products, component parts of prod-
ucts, and raw materials used by such entity in 
the manufacturing of such entity’s products 
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whether or not such entity has a direct relation-
ship with the supplier; and 
‘‘(E) the term ‘the worst forms of child 
labor’ means child labor in violation of national 
and international standards, including Inter-
national Labor Organization Convention No. 
182.’’. 
Æ 
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