I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3145
To promote greater cooperation between the United States and its European
allies toward religious tolerance and to require the imposition of punitive
measures with respect to entities that discriminate against individuals
or groups on the basis of religion or belief.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 16, 2001
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself and Mr. GILMAN) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and
in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Ways and Means,
for a period subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To promote greater cooperation between the United States
and its European allies toward religious tolerance and
to require the imposition of punitive measures with re-
spect to entities that discriminate against individuals or
groups on the basis of religion or belief.
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 ‘‘Trans-Atlantic Reli-
gious Protection Act (TARPA) of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights states that ‘‘[e]veryone has the right
to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this
right includes freedom to change his religion or be-
lief, and freedom, either alone or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his reli-
gion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and ob-
servance’’.
(2) Article 18 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights states that ‘‘[n]o one shall
be subject to coercion which would impair his free-
dom to have or adopt a religion or belief of his
choice’’.
(3) The member countries of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
have undertaken a series of specific commitments
designed to ensure the freedom of the individual to
profess and practice religion or belief, including a
commitment by those countries to ensure the full
and effective exercise of the freedom of thought, con-
science, religion, or belief, in their laws and regula-
tions.
(4) Principle VII of the Helsinki Final Act com-
mits the OSCE member countries to ‘‘recognize and
respect the freedom of the individual to profess and
practice, alone or in community with others, religion
or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his
own conscience’’.
(5) The 1989 Vienna Concluding Document
commits the OSCE member countries to ‘‘take effec-
tive measures to prevent and eliminate discrimina-
tion against individuals or communities on the
grounds of religion or belief in the recognition, exer-
cise and enjoyment of human rights and funda-
mental freedoms in all fields of civil, political, eco-
nomic, social and cultural life’’.
(6) In the 1991 Moscow Document, the OSCE
member countries ‘‘categorically and irrevocably de-
clare that the commitments undertaken in the field
of the human dimension . . . are matters of direct
and legitimate concern to all participating States
and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs
of the State concerned’’.
(7) Freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or
belief is inextricably linked to the exercise of other
rights, including the right to freedom of peaceful as-
sembly and association, the right to freedom of asso-
ciation with others, and the right to freedom of ex-
pression, and the recognition that all persons are
equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to the equal protection of the law, in-
cluding in employment.
(8) The United States Department of State’s
annual reports on religious freedom and human
rights have documented numerous instances of gov-
ernment discrimination in Western Europe based on
religion or belief, including discriminatory acts
against American members of several different reli-
gious denominations and beliefs.
(9) Both the Office of the United States Trade
Representative and the Department of State have
objected to the use of discriminatory procurement
practices by German Federal, state and local govern-
mental agencies and private entities which have the
potential to discriminate against United States firms
in procurement decisions by permitting agencies and
firms to reject bids and terminate contracts with
firms that do not attest that the firm and its em-
ployees are not affiliated with certain religious be-
liefs.
(10) In France, Federal and local governmental
agencies, as well as private businesses responding to
French Government actions, have terminated con-
tracts with a United States-owned software firm
solely because of the religious beliefs of the firm’s
founder.
(11) A law enacted by the French Parliament
on May 30, 2001, contains repressive measures
which would have a chilling effect on the freedom re-
ligion and belief, including the dissolution of tar-
geted religious associations, the imprisonment of
members of such groups, and infringement upon
freedom of speech, including speech intended to per-
suade another person to a particular point of view,
whether philosophical or religious.
(12) His Holiness Pope John Paul II has spo-
ken out against the new French law as potentially
devastating. While formally accepting the credentials
of the new French Ambassador to the Holy See, the
Pope reminded the ambassador that ‘‘religious lib-
erty in the full sense of the term, is the first human
right . . . [t]his means a liberty which is not re-
duced to the private sphere only . . . [t]o discrimi-
nate [against] religious beliefs, or to discredit one or
another form of religious practices is a form of ex-
clusion contrary to the respect of fundamental
human values and will eventually destabilize society,
where a pluralism of thought and action should
exist, as well as a benevolent and brotherly attitude
. . . [t]his will necessarily create a climate of tension,
intolerance, opposition and suspect, not conducive to
social peace’’.
(13) United States Department of State offi-
cials testifying on the new French law before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 1,
2001, and the House Committee on International
Relations on July 11, 2001, underscored that ‘‘[t]he
United States is concerned that such policies are be-
coming institutionalized in some parts of Europe
and are having the effect of appearing to justify re-
strictive laws elsewhere such as Russia, Central
Asia, and even China’’.
(14) A 1996 French National Assembly report
listed 173 organizations as suspect, including inde-
pendent 
evangelical 
Christian 
churches,
Scientologists, 
Jehovah’s 
Witnesses, 
and
Unificationists and this report has been used by
both private and official entities to harass, intimi-
date, deny employment, and deny commercial loans
to listed groups, and members of other religious
groups, such as Southern Baptists, Seventh Day Ad-
ventists, the Catholic Charismatic Renewal move-
ment, Opus Dei, and the Society of Jesus, have also
been subject to recent discrimination and harass-
ment at the hands of the French Government.
(15) The Parliament of Austria passed a law in
1997 which codified a tiered system of government
recognition and preferential treatment and which re-
quires religious groups seeking recognition to under-
go government surveillance for at least 10, or up to
20, years to prove legitimacy to government officials.
(16) The Austrian law on religion is cited as
justification for more repressive laws being proposed
in nascent democracies further east, such as Hun-
gary and Romania, and has been cited by Russian
officials as justification for an oppressive 1997 Rus-
sian religion law.
(17) The Government of Austria has instituted
a ‘‘sect’’ office which disseminates official propa-
ganda on religious groups not recognized by the gov-
ernment and leading to a chilling effect on religious
liberty.
(18) The Parliament of Belgium issued a report
in 1997 on ‘‘sects’’ with a widely circulated informal
appendix listing 189 groups as suspect, including
many Protestant and Catholic groups, Quakers, Ha-
sidic Jews, Buddhists, and members of the Young
Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), based on
rumor and speculation found in police files, and im-
plicitly warning the public to avoid such ‘‘dan-
gerous’’ groups.
(19) The Parliament of Belgium has established
a government Center for Information and Advice on
Harmful Sectarian Organizations which disseminates
official views on groups considered ‘‘sects’’ as de-
fined by the list in the appendix to the 1997 Belgian
Parliament report.
(20) On April 29, 1998, the Italian Ministry of
Internal Affairs sent a report to the lower house of
the Italian Parliament entitled ‘‘Cults and New
Magical Movements in Italy’’. This report mentions
that the Ministry of Internal Affairs monitors 137
groups—76 of which are categorized as ‘‘new reli-
gions’’ and 61 as ‘‘new magical movements’’. This
report, according to Dr. Massimo Introvigne of
CESNUR in Italy, notes that ‘‘the real danger is
that, because of the media event created around the
report, respectable and law-abiding citizens who hap-
pen to be members of movements mentioned, but ex-
plicitly exonerated from any charge in the report
may be discriminated against or maligned’’.
(21) Some evangelical and charismatic Chris-
tian churches have been targeted in parliamentary
investigations in France, Belgium, and Germany.
(22) Jehovah’s Witnesses have been subjected
in France to various forms of harassment, have been
informed by German state tax authorities that the
long-standing exemption from property taxation for
their houses of worship may be canceled in the near
future, continue to suffer from employment discrimi-
nation in Austria, France, and Germany, and have
been discriminated against in foster parent pro-
ceedings in Germany and in some child custody mat-
ters in Belgium.
(23) Muslims have been subjected to harass-
ment, including police brutality and attacks by ex-
tremist groups, particularly in Germany and France,
and Muslim women are subject to frequent discrimi-
nation and other forms of abuse and harassment be-
cause they wear a head covering.
(24) Adherents to the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints have been subject to continued
acts of harassment, including confiscation of reli-
gious materials, and are prevented from freely shar-
ing their beliefs in several Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) member coun-
tries.
(25) Members of the Church of Scientology
have been subject to pervasive civil, political, and
economic discrimination, harassment, surveillance,
and orchestrated boycotts in Germany, France, Bel-
gium, and Austria.
(26) The Law of Sects in Spain, passed in
1989, authorizes the police to investigate ‘‘sects’’
with a ‘‘destructive’’ character. As a result, a special
unit was created within the police to investigate
these allegedly dangerous sects.
(27) The Government of the Canary Islands,
one of Spain’s 17 regions, has refused to grant per-
mission to the Salvation Army to open a center for
needy children on the grounds that the Salvation
Army is categorized as a ‘‘destructive sect’’.
(28) Actions by Western European governments
have contributed to intolerance by public and private
actors who have discriminated in hiring practices or
terminated employment based on an individual’s reli-
gious affiliation.
(29) The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
against the United States have intensified fears of
infringement and violations of religious freedom,
delegations to appropriate meetings of international
organizations.
(b) UNITED
STATES-EU INTER-PARLIAMENTARY
MEETINGS.—United States representatives to the United
States-European Union Inter-Parliamentary meetings,
should raise at such meetings the issue of laws, regula-
tions, and other practices in the members countries which
infringe upon freedom of thought, conscience, religion or
belief and take concrete steps to address these violations.
SEC. 4. ACTIONS BY DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
(a) DIVERSITY AND TOLERANCE EXCHANGES.—The
Secretary of State, through the Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Exchange, shall promote educational and cul-
tural workshops and forums among academics, religious
leaders, and human rights organizations in the United
States and their European counterparts in an effort to
promote a better understanding of religious and philo-
sophical diversity and a tolerant society.
(b) HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORS.—The Secretary of
State, through the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,
and Labor and the Bureau of Diplomatic and Consular
Affairs, shall train United States human rights monitors
stationed at European posts to identify, investigate, and
monitor persecution and discrimination on the basis of re-
ligion or belief.
(c) DENIAL OF VISAS.—The Secretary of State may
not issue a visa to, and the Attorney General shall exclude
from the United States, any alien who the Secretary of
State determines is a high-ranking official of the govern-
ment of a country, or a commercial or other entity of a
government, which is in violation of international obliga-
tions to guarantee and ensure the full and effective exer-
cise of freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief.
(d) TRAVEL ADVISORIES.—The Secretary of State
shall issue travel advisories on countries which discrimi-
nate on the basis of religion or belief advising Americans
of the potential dangers faced by individuals who are mem-
bers of targeted groups.
SEC. 5. ACTIONS BY UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTA-
TIVE.
The President shall, in accordance with section
301(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2411(a)(1)), 
direct 
the 
United 
States 
Trade
Representative—
(1) to take all appropriate action authorized
under section 301(c) of such Act against each Euro-
pean country the government of which engages in or
tolerates violations of religious freedom (as deter-
mined under section 401 of the International Reli-
gious Freedom Act of 1998), including the imposi-
tion of duties or other import restrictions on goods
of such country that are similar to the goods of a
United States individual or United States business
(or its subsidiary) that is subject to such violations
of religious freedom; and
(2) to initiate appropriate action at the World
Trade Organization against each European country
described in paragraph (1).
SEC. 6. ACTIONS BY DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
The President shall direct the Secretary of
Commerce—
(1) to incorporate into the programs and assist-
ance of the International Trade Administration
guidelines and warnings regarding the discrimina-
tory practices of European countries against United
States products or businesses (and their subsidi-
aries) on the basis of religion or belief; and
(2) to make it a priority to advocate on behalf
of United States businesses being discriminated
against by European countries on the basis of reli-
gion or belief to ensure full market access and
achieve full compliance by such countries with inter-
national trade agreements and accords entered into
with the United States.
SEC. 7. PRESIDENTIAL WAIVER.
(a) WAIVER.—Subject to subsection (b), the Presi-
dent may waive any provision of this Act with respect to
a country if the President determines and so reports to
Congress that—
(1) the government of the country has ceased
the violations giving rise to the action under this
Act;
(2) the exercise of the waiver would further the
purposes of this Act; or
(3) it is important to the national interests of
the United States to do so.
(b) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Prior to exer-
cising his authority to waive any provision of this Act pur-
suant to subsection (a), the President shall notify Con-
gress of the waiver together with a detailed justification
thereof.
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