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 ‘‘Burmese Freedom and
Democracy Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) has failed to transfer power to the National
League for Democracy (NLD) whose parliamentar-
ians won an overwhelming victory in the 1990 elec-
tions in Burma.
(2) The SPDC has failed to enter into meaning-
ful, political dialogue with the NLD and ethnic mi-
norities and has dismissed the efforts of United Na-
tions Special Envoy Razali bin Ismail to further
such dialogue.
(3) According to the State Department’s ‘‘Re-
port to the Congress Regarding Conditions in
Burma and U.S. Policy Toward Burma’’ dated
March 28, 2003, the SPDC has become ‘‘more
confrontational’’ in its exchanges with the NLD.
(4) On May 30, 2003, the SPDC, threatened by
continued support for the NLD throughout Burma,
brutally attacked NLD supporters, killed and in-
jured scores of civilians, and arrested democracy ad-
vocate Aung San Suu Kyi and other activists.
(5) The SPDC continues egregious human
rights violations against Burmese citizens, uses rape
as a weapon of intimidation and torture against
women, and forcibly conscripts child-soldiers for the
use in fighting indigenous ethnic groups.
(6) The SPDC is engaged in ethnic cleansing
against minorities within Burma, including the
Karen, Karenni, and Shan people, which constitutes
a crime against humanity and has directly led to
more than 600,000 internally displaced people living
within Burma and more than 130,000 people from
Burma living in refugee camps along the Thai-
Burma border.
(7) The ethnic cleansing campaign of the SPDC
is in sharp contrast to the traditional peaceful coex-
istence in Burma of Buddhists, Muslims, Christians,
and people of traditional beliefs.
(8) The SPDC has demonstrably failed to co-
operate with the United States in stopping the flood
of heroin and methamphetamines being grown, re-
fined, manufactured, and transported in areas under
the control of the SPDC serving to flood the region
and much of the world with these illicit drugs.
(9) The SPDC provides safety, security, and
engages in business dealings with narcotics traf-
fickers under indictment by United States authori-
ties, and other producers and traffickers of nar-
cotics.
(10) The International Labor Organization
(ILO), for the first time in its 82-year history,
adopted in 2000, a resolution recommending that
governments, employers, and workers organizations
take appropriate measures to ensure that their rela-
tions with the SPDC do not abet the government-
sponsored system of forced, compulsory, or slave
labor in Burma, and that other international bodies
reconsider any cooperation they may be engaged in
with Burma and, if appropriate, cease as soon as
possible any activity that could abet the practice of
forced, compulsory, or slave labor.
(11) The SPDC has integrated the Burmese
military and its surrogates into all facets of the
economy effectively destroying any free enterprise
system.
(12) Investment in Burmese companies and
purchases from them serve to provide the SPDC
with currency that is used to finance its instruments
of terror and repression against the Burmese people.
(13) On April 15, 2003, the American Apparel
and Footwear Association expressed its ‘‘strong sup-
port for a full and immediate ban on U.S. textiles,
apparel and footwear imports from Burma’’ and
called upon the United States Government to ‘‘im-
pose an outright ban on U.S. imports’’ of these
items until Burma demonstrates respect for basic
human and labor rights of its citizens.
(14) The policy of the United States, as articu-
lated by the President on April 24, 2003, is to offi-
cially recognize the NLD as the legitimate represent-
ative of the Burmese people as determined by the
1990 election.
(15) The United States must work closely with
other nations, including Thailand, a close ally of the
United States, to highlight attention to the SPDC’s
systematic abuses of human rights in Burma, to en-
sure that nongovernmental organizations promoting
human rights and political freedom in Burma are al-
lowed to operate freely and without harassment, and
to craft a multilateral sanctions regime against
Burma in order to pressure the SPDC to meet the
conditions identified in section 3(a)(3) of this Act.
SEC. 3. BAN AGAINST TRADE THAT SUPPORTS THE MILI-
TARY REGIME OF BURMA.
(a) GENERAL BAN.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, until such time as the President de-
termines and certifies to Congress that Burma has
met the conditions described in paragraph (3), be-
ginning 30 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the President shall ban the importation of
any article that is a product of Burma.
(2) BAN ON IMPORTS FROM CERTAIN COMPA-
NIES.—The import restrictions contained in para-
graph (1) shall apply to, among other entities—
(A) the SPDC, any ministry of the SPDC,
a member of the SPDC or an immediate family
member of such member;
(B) known narcotics traffickers from
Burma or an immediate family member of such
narcotics trafficker;
(C) the Union of Myanmar Economics
Holdings Incorporated (UMEHI) or any com-
pany in which the UMEHI has a fiduciary in-
terest;
(D) the Myanmar Economic Corporation
(MEC) or any company in which the MEC has
a fiduciary interest;
(E) the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA); and
(F) any successor entity for the SPDC,
UMEHI, MEC, or USDA.
(3) CONDITIONS
DESCRIBED.—The conditions
described in this paragraph are the following:
(A) The SPDC has made substantial and
measurable progress to end violations of inter-
nationally recognized human rights including
rape, and the Secretary of State, after consulta-
tion with the ILO Secretary General and rel-
evant nongovernmental organizations, reports to
the appropriate congressional committees that
the SPDC no longer systematically violates
workers rights, including the use of forced and
child labor, and conscription of child-soldiers.
(B) The SPDC has made measurable and
substantial progress toward implementing a
democratic government including—
(i) releasing all political prisoners;
(ii) allowing freedom of speech and
the press;
(iii) allowing freedom of association;
(iv) permitting the peaceful exercise of
religion; and
(v) bringing to a conclusion an agree-
ment between the SPDC and the demo-
cratic forces led by the NLD and Burma’s
ethnic nationalities on the transfer of
power to a civilian government accountable
to the Burmese people through democratic
elections under the rule of law.
(C) Pursuant to section 706(2) of the For-
eign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Year
2003 (Public Law 107–228), Burma has not
been designated as a country that has failed de-
monstrably to make substantial efforts to ad-
here to its obligations under international coun-
ternarcotics agreements and to take other effec-
tive counternarcotics measures, including, but
not limited to (i) the arrest and extradition of
all individuals under indictment in the United
States for narcotics trafficking, (ii) concrete
and measurable actions to stem the flow of il-
licit drug money into Burma’s banking system
and economic enterprises, and (iii) actions to
stop 
the 
manufacture 
and 
export 
of
methamphetamines.
(4) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appropriate
congressional committees’’ means the Committees on
Foreign Relations and Appropriations of the Senate
and the Committees on International Relations and
Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
(b) WAIVER
AUTHORITIES.—The President may
waive the prohibitions described in this section for any or
all articles that are a product of Burma if the President
determines and notifies the Committees on Appropria-
tions, Finance, and Foreign Relations of the Senate and
the Committees on Appropriations, International Rela-
tions, and Ways and Means of the House of Representa-
tives that to do so is in the national interest of the United
States.
SEC. 4. FREEZING ASSETS OF THE BURMESE REGIME IN
THE UNITED STATES.
(a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 60
days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President
shall take such action as is necessary to direct, and pro-
mulgate regulations to the same, that any United States
financial institution holding funds belonging to the SPDC
or the assets of those individuals who hold senior positions
in the SPDC or its political arm, the Union Solidarity De-
velopment Association, shall promptly report those funds
or assets to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
(b) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.—The President may
take such action as may be necessary to impose a sanc-
tions regime to freeze such funds or assets, subject to such
terms and conditions as the President determines to be
appropriate.
(c) DELEGATION.—The President may delegate the
duties and authorities under this section to such Federal
officers or other officials as the President deems appro-
priate.
SEC. 5. LOANS AT INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITU-
TIONS.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the
United States executive director to each appropriate inter-
national financial institution in which the United States
participates, to oppose, and vote against the extension by
such institution of any loan or financial or technical assist-
ance to Burma until such time as the conditions described
in section 3(a)(3) are met.
SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF VISA BAN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) VISA BAN.—The President is authorized to
deny visas and entry to the former and present lead-
ership of the SPDC or the Union Solidarity Develop-
ment Association.
(2) UPDATES.—The Secretary of State shall co-
ordinate on a biannual basis with representatives of
the European Union to allow officials of the United
States and the European Union to ensure a high de-
gree of coordination of lists of individuals banned
from obtaining a visa by the European Union for the
reason described in paragraph (1) and those banned
from receiving a visa from the United States.
(b) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary of State shall post
on the Department of State’s website the names of individ-
uals whose entry into the United States is banned under
subsection (a).
SEC. 7. CONDEMNATION OF THE REGIME AND DISSEMINA-
TION OF INFORMATION.
Congress encourages the Secretary of State to high-
light the abysmal record of the SPDC to the international
community and use all appropriate fora, including the As-
sociation of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum and
Asian Nations Regional Forum, to encourage other states
to restrict financial resources to the SPDC and Burmese
companies while offering political recognition and support
to Burma’s democratic movement including the National
League for Democracy and Burma’s ethnic groups.
SEC. 8. SUPPORT DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS IN BURMA.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized to
use all available resources to assist Burmese democracy
activists dedicated to nonviolent opposition to the regime
in their efforts to promote freedom, democracy, and
human rights in Burma, including a listing of constraints
on such programming.
(b) REPORTS.—
(1) FIRST REPORT.—Not later than 3 months
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State shall provide the Committees on Ap-
propriations and Foreign Relations of the Senate
and the Committees on Appropriations and Inter-
national Relations of the House of Representatives
a comprehensive report on its short- and long-term
programs and activities to support democracy activ-
ists in Burma, including a list of constraints on such
programming.
(2) REPORT ON RESOURCES.—Not later than 6
months after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of State shall provide the Committees on
Appropriations and Foreign Relations of the Senate
and the Committees on Appropriations and Inter-
national Relations of the House of Representatives
a report identifying resources that will be necessary
for the reconstruction of Burma, after the SPDC is
removed from power, including—
(A) the formation of democratic institu-
tions;
(B) establishing the rule of law;
(C) establishing freedom of the press;
(D) providing for the successful reintegra-
tion of military officers and personnel into Bur-
mese society; and
(E) providing health, educational, and eco-
nomic development.
(3) REPORT ON TRADE SANCTIONS.—Not later
than 90 days before the date on which the import
restrictions contained in section 3(a)(1) are to ex-
pire, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the
United States Trade Representative and the heads
of appropriate agencies, shall submit to the Commit-
tees on Appropriations, Finance, and Foreign Rela-
tions of the Senate, and the Committees on Appro-
priations, International Relations, and Ways and
Means of the House of Representatives, a report
on—
(A) bilateral and multilateral measures un-
dertaken by the United States Government and