I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7824 
To require certain businesses to disclose the use of forced labor in their 
direct supply chain, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 29, 2020 
Mr. BUCK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To require certain businesses to disclose the use of forced 
labor in their direct supply chain, 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 ‘‘Slave-Free Business 
Certification Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. REQUIRED REPORTING ON USE OF FORCED LABOR 
FROM COVERED BUSINESS ENTITIES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COVERED
BUSINESS
ENTITY.—The term 
‘‘covered business entity’’ means any issuer, as that 
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term is defined in section 2(a) of the Securities Act 
of 1933 (15 U.S.C. 77b(a)), that has annual, world-
wide gross receipts that exceed $500,000,000. 
(2) FORCED LABOR.—The term ‘‘forced labor’’ 
means any labor practice or human trafficking activ-
ity in violation of national and international stand-
ards, including— 
(A) International Labor Organization Con-
vention No. 182; 
(B) the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.); and 
(C) any act that would violate the criminal 
provisions related to slavery and human traf-
ficking under chapter 77 of title 18, United 
States Code, if the act had been committed 
within the jurisdiction of the United States. 
(3) GROSS
RECEIPTS.—The term ‘‘gross re-
ceipts’’— 
(A) means the gross amount, including 
cash and the fair market value of other prop-
erty or services received, gained in a transaction 
that produces business income from— 
(i) the sale or exchange of property; 
(ii) the performance of services; or 
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(iii) the use of property or capital; 
and 
(B) does not include— 
(i) repayment, maturity, or redemp-
tion of the principal of a— 
(I) loan; 
(II) bond; 
(III) mutual fund; 
(IV) certificate of deposit; or 
(V) similar marketable instru-
ment; 
(ii) proceeds from— 
(I) the issuance of a company’s 
own stock; or 
(II) the sale of treasury stock; 
(iii) amounts received as the result of 
litigation, including damages; 
(iv) property acquired by an agent on 
behalf of another party; 
(v) Federal, State, or local tax re-
funds or other tax benefit recoveries; 
(vi) certain contributions to capital; 
(vii) income from discharge of indebt-
edness; or 
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(viii) amounts realized from exchanges 
of inventory that are not recognized under 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 
(4) ON-SITE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘on-site serv-
ice’’ means any service work provided on the site of 
a covered business entity, including food service 
work and catering services. 
(5) ON-SITE
SERVICE
PROVIDER.—The term 
‘‘on-site service provider’’ means any entity that pro-
vides workers who perform, collectively, a total of 
not less than 30 hours per week of on-site services 
for a covered business entity. 
(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Labor. 
(b) AUDIT AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, and every year 
thereafter, each covered business entity shall— 
(A) conduct an audit of its supply chain, 
pursuant to the requirements of section 3, to 
investigate the presence or use of forced labor 
by the covered business entity or its suppliers, 
including by direct suppliers, secondary sup-
pliers, and on-site service providers of the cov-
ered business entity; 
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(B) submit a report to the Secretary con-
taining the information described in paragraph 
(2) on the results of such audit and efforts of 
the covered business entity to eradicate forced 
labor from the supply chain and on-site services 
of the covered business entity; and 
(C)(i) publish the report described in sub-
paragraph (B) on the public website of the cov-
ered business entity, and provide a conspicuous 
and easily understood link on the homepage of 
the website that leads to the report; or 
(ii) in the case of a covered business entity 
that does not have a public website, provide the 
report in written form to any consumer of the 
covered business entity not later than 30 days 
after the consumer submits a request for the 
report. 
(2) REQUIRED REPORT CONTENTS.—Each re-
port required under paragraph (1)(B) shall contain, 
at a minimum— 
(A) a disclosure of the covered business en-
tity’s policies to prevent the use of forced labor 
by the covered business entity, its direct sup-
pliers, and its on-site service providers; 
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(B) a disclosure of what policies or proce-
dures, if any, the covered business entity uses— 
(i) for the verification of product sup-
ply chains and on-site service provider 
practices to evaluate and address risks of 
forced labor and whether the verification 
was conducted by a third party; 
(ii) to require direct suppliers and on- 
site service providers to provide written 
certification that materials incorporated 
into the product supplied or on-site serv-
ices, respectively, comply with the laws re-
garding forced labor of each country in 
which the supplier or on-site service pro-
vider is engaged in business; 
(iii) to maintain internal account-
ability standards and procedures for em-
ployees or contractors of the covered busi-
ness entity failing to meet requirements re-
garding forced labor; and 
(iv) to provide training on recognizing 
and preventing forced labor, particularly 
with respect to mitigating risks within the 
supply chains of products and on-site serv-
ices of the covered business entity, to em-
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ployees, including management personnel, 
of the covered business entity who have di-
rect responsibility for supply chain man-
agement or on-site services; 
(C) a description of the findings of each 
audit required under paragraph (1)(A), includ-
ing the details of any instances of found or sus-
pected forced labor; and 
(D) a written certification, signed by the 
chief executive officer of the covered business 
entity, that— 
(i) the covered business entity has 
complied with the requirements of this Act 
and exercised due diligence in order to 
eradicate forced labor from the supply 
chain and on-site services of the covered 
business entity; 
(ii) to the best of the chief executive 
officer’s knowledge, the covered business 
entity has found no instances of the use of 
forced labor by the covered business entity 
or has disclosed every known instance of 
the use of forced labor; and 
(iii) the chief executive officer and any 
other officers submitting the report or cer-
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tification understand that section 1001 of 
title 18, United States Code (popularly 
known as the ‘‘False Statements Act’’), 
applies to the information contained in the 
report submitted to the Secretary. 
(c) REPORT OF VIOLATIONS TO CONGRESS.—Each 
year, the Secretary shall prepare and submit a report to 
Congress regarding the covered business entities that— 
(1) have failed to conduct audits required under 
this Act for the preceding year or have been adju-
dicated in violation of any other provision of this 
Act; or 
(2) have been found to have used forced labor, 
including the use of forced labor in their supply 
chain or by their on-site service providers. 
SEC. 3. AUDIT REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each audit conducted under sec-
tion 2(b)(1)(A) shall meet the following requirements: 
(1) 
WORKER
INTERVIEWS.—The 
auditor 
shall— 
(A) select a cross-section of workers to 
interview that represents the full diversity of 
the workplace, and includes, if applicable, men 
and women, migrant workers and local workers, 
workers on different shifts, workers performing 
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different tasks, and members of various produc-
tion teams; 
(B) if individuals under the age of 18 are 
employed at the facility of the direct supplier or 
on-site service provider, interview a representa-
tive group using age-sensitive interview tech-
niques; 
(C) conduct interviews— 
(i) on-site and, particularly in cases 
where there are indications of egregious 
violations about which employees may hesi-
tate to discuss at work, off-site of the facil-
ity and during non-work hours; and 
(ii) individually or in groups (except 
for purposes of subparagraph (B)); 
(D) use audit tools to ensure that each 
worker is asked a comprehensive set of ques-
tions; 
(E) collect from interviewed workers copies 
of the workers’ pay stubs, in order to compare 
the pay stubs with payment records provided by 
the direct supplier; 
(F) ensure that all worker responses are 
confidential and are never shared with manage-
ment; and 
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(G) interview a representative of the labor 
organization or other worker representative or-
ganization that represents workers at the facil-
ity or, if no such organization is present, at-
tempt to interview a representative from a local 
worker advocacy group. 
(2) MANAGEMENT
INTERVIEWS.—The auditor 
shall— 
(A) interview a cross-section of the man-
agement of the supplier, including human re-
sources personnel, production supervisors, and 
others; and 
(B) use audit tools to ensure that man-
agers are asked a comprehensive set of ques-
tions. 
(3) DOCUMENTATION
REVIEW.—The auditor 
shall— 
(A) conduct a documentation review to 
provide tangible proof of compliance and to cor-
roborate or find discrepancies in the informa-
tion gathered through the worker and manage-
ment interviews; and 
(B) review, at a minimum, the following 
types of documents: 
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(i) Age verification procedures and 
documents. 
(ii) A master list of juvenile workers. 
(iii) Selection and recruitment proce-
dures. 
(iv) Contracts with labor brokers, if 
any. 
(v) Worker contracts and employment 
agreements. 
(vi) Introduction program materials. 
(vii) Personnel files. 
(viii) Employee communication and 
training plans, including certifications pro-
vided to workers including skills training, 
worker preparedness, government certifi-
cation programs, and systems or policy ori-
entations. 
(ix) Collective bargaining agreements, 
including collective bargaining representa-
tive certification, descriptions of the role of 
the labor organization, and minutes of the 
labor organization’s meetings. 
(x) Contracts with any security agen-
cy, and descriptions of the scope of respon-
sibilities of the security agency. 
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