I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 910
To require the Secretary of State to establish a set of voluntary guidelines
to promote socially responsible business practices for United States busi-
nesses operating in foreign countries.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 13, 1995
Mr. EVANS (for himself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr.
DEFAZIO, Mr. CONYERS, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr.
FROST, Mr. MCHALE, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO´, Mrs. COL-
LINS of Illinois, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr.
OLVER, Mr. VENTO, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms.
VELA´ZQUEZ, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To require the Secretary of State to establish a set of vol-
untary guidelines to promote socially responsible business
practices for United States businesses operating in for-
eign countries.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) in the 1990s and beyond, capital, tech-
nology, and services are and will be easily trans-
ferred anywhere in the world without due regard for
national boundaries and governmental policies, espe-
cially those pertaining to fundamental labor, envi-
ronmental, and agricultural standards;
(2) multinational corporations now play a major
role in the conduct of international trade and invest-
ment among all nations, yet multinational corpora-
tions are not accountable in important ways to any
national governments or international organizations
and are not bound by any universal international
agreements or standards of conduct;
(3) increasingly, multinational corporations are
crucial agents of commerce and investment between
developed and developing countries, wielding great
influence over whatever national standards exist in
respective countries pertaining to socially responsible
investment;
(4) some multinational corporations, including
some based in the United States, have adopted vol-
untary codes of conduct governing all aspects of
their operations with a view toward promoting so-
cially responsible investment; and
(5) there already exist some promising prece-
dents of corporate codes of conduct for multinational
corporations which, if widely adhered to and en-
forced, could facilitate socially responsible business
operations worldwide and reduce pressures to en-
hance competitiveness by ignoring fundamental
labor, environmental, and agricultural standards
where they exist.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GUIDELINES.
(a) RESPONSIBILITY OF SECRETARY OF STATE.—
The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary
of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, the heads of appro-
priate Federal departments and agencies, labor represent-
atives, representatives of businesses with operations
abroad, and appropriate nonprofit organizations, shall es-
tablish guidelines which United States nationals should
use in conducting business operations anywhere in the ter-
ritory of any foreign country.
(b) CONTENTS OF GUIDELINES.—The guidelines es-
tablished under subsection (a) shall, at a minimum, be
based on the principles contained in the following:
(1) The ‘‘Guidelines for Multinational Enter-
prises’’ of the Organization for Economic Coopera-
tion and Development.
(2) The ‘‘Tripartite Declaration of Principles
Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social
Policy’’ of the International Labor Organization.
(3) The child labor standards established by the
International Labor Organization.
(4) The standards regarding prison labor that
are contained in Article XX of the General Agree-
ment on Tariffs and Trade.
(5) The so-called ‘‘MacBride Principles’’, ‘‘Sul-
livan Principles’’, and ‘‘Slepak Principles’’.
(6) The so-called ‘‘Minnesota Principles’’ or
‘‘Caux Principles’’.
As used in paragraph (4), the term ‘‘General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade’’ refers to the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade annexed to the Agreement Establish-
ing the World Trade Organization that was entered into
on April 15, 1994.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The guidelines established
under subsection (a) shall be published in the Federal
Register and shall take effect 6 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE.
(a) SUBMISSION OF STATEMENTS.—Not later than 1
year after the effective date described in section 2(c), and
not later than the end of each 1-year period thereafter,
each United States national that conducts business oper-
ations, directly or through a foreign subsidiary or contrac-
tor, in any foreign country shall submit a statement to
the Secretary of State, in such form as the Secretary of
State shall prescribe, indicating whether or not such na-
tional, in conducting such business operations, is comply-
ing with the guidelines.
(b) REGISTRATION.—
(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of State
shall require United States nationals subject to the
requirement of subsection (a) to file with the Sec-
retary a registration with respect to their business
operations in foreign countries. Such registration
shall include the name of the business operations in
each foreign country, and the location and chief offi-
cers of such business operations. No fee shall be re-
quired for registration under this subsection.
(2) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—The registration re-
quirement of paragraph (1) shall take effect 6
months after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(c) HEARINGS.—The Secretary of State shall conduct
public hearings at least once each year on the compliance
with the guidelines of United States nationals subject to
the requirement of subsection (a). The Secretary shall pro-
vide interested persons with an opportunity to testify at
such hearings.
(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary of State shall
submit a report to the Congress describing the level of
compliance with the guidelines by United States nationals
subject to the requirement of subsection (a). This report
shall be submitted not later than 18 months after the date
of the enactment of this Act and not later than the end
of each 1-year period occurring thereafter.
SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.
(a) SUPPORT.—Departments and agencies of the
United States may intercede with a foreign government
or foreign national regarding export marketing activity in
a foreign country on behalf of a United States national
subject to the requirement of section 3(a) only if that
United States national complies with the guidelines.
(b) TYPE OF CONTACT.—The term ‘‘intercede with
a foreign government or foreign national’’ includes any
contact by an officer or employee of the United States with
officials of any foreign government or foreign national in-
volving or contemplating any effort to assist in selling a
good, service, or technology in a foreign country. Such
term does not include multilateral or bilateral government-
to-government trade negotiations intended to resolve trade
issues which may affect United States nationals who do
not comply with the guidelines.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take ef-
fect 18 months after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the terms ‘‘comply with the guidelines’’,
‘‘complying with the guidelines’’ and ‘‘compliance
with the guidelines’’ mean—
(A) implementing the guidelines estab-
lished under section 2(a) by taking good faith
measures with respect to each such guideline;
and
(B) reporting accurately to the Depart-
ment of State on the measures taken to imple-
ment those principles;
(2) the term ‘‘business operations’’ refers to a
for-profit activity, but does not include a small busi-
ness concern as defined under section 3 of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and
(3) the term ‘‘United States national’’ means—
(A) a citizen or national of the United
States or a permanent resident of the United
States; and
(B) a corporation, partnership, and other
business association organized under the laws
of the United States, any State or territory
thereof, the District of Columbia, the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico, or the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands.
SEC. 6. REGULATIONS.
The Secretary of State may issue such regulations
as are necessary to carry out this Act.
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