Title: Labor Rights for Development Act of 2018
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
Labor Rights for Development Act of 2018
This bill amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require a developing country, as a condition for eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences, to establish in its law and practice:
The Generalized System of Preferences is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in developing countries by providing preferential duty-free entry for certain products from designated beneficiary countries.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative shall prescribe regulations necessary for the implementation of this bill.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2307 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2307

   To require countries to comply with certain labor standards to be 
   eligible for the Generalized System of Preferences, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2018

Mr. Menendez (for himself and Mr. Brown) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require countries to comply with certain labor standards to be 
   eligible for the Generalized System of Preferences, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Labor Rights for Development Act of 
2018''.

SEC. 2. LABOR STANDARDS FOR BENEFICIARY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 502(b)(2)(G) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2462(b)(2)(G)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(G)(i)(I) Such country has not established, in 
                law and in practice, the following rights as defined by 
                the International Labour Organization:
                            ``(aa) Freedom of association.
                            ``(bb) The effective recognition of the 
                        right to collective bargaining.
                            ``(cc) The elimination of all forms of 
                        compulsory or forced labor.
                            ``(dd) The effective abolition of child 
                        labor and the prohibition on the worst forms of 
                        child labor.
                            ``(ee) The elimination of discrimination in 
                        respect of employment and occupation.
                            ``(ff) Acceptable conditions of work with 
                        respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and 
                        occupational safety and health.
                    ``(II) Such country does not provide reasonable 
                access to the appropriate United States officials to 
                investigate and monitor compliance with the rights 
                specified in subclause (I), including by ensuring full, 
                independent access to work sites, workers, and managers 
                for the completion of monitoring visits.
                    ``(ii) During the 5-year period beginning on the 
                date of the enactment of the Labor Rights for 
                Development Act of 2018, clause (i) shall not apply to 
                any country that--
                            ``(I) is making continual progress toward 
                        establishing laws that are fully consistent 
                        with the rights specified in subclause (I) of 
                        that clause; and
                            ``(II) does not have in effect laws that 
                        prohibit the exercise of any of those 
                        rights.''.
    (b) Publication of Information on Labor Standards.--The President 
shall publish, on a publicly available Internet website--
            (1) annually until the end of the 5-year period described 
        in clause (ii) of section 502(b)(2)(G) of the Trade Act of 
        1974, as amended by subsection (a), a description of the 
        continual progress made by each country toward meeting the 
        requirements of that section; and
            (2) at the end of that 5-year period, a certification with 
        respect to whether or not each country has met such 
        requirements.
    (c) Conforming Amendments.--Section 502(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 
(19 U.S.C. 2462(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (5), by striking the semicolon and 
        inserting ``; and'';
            (2) in paragraph (6)(B), by striking ``; and'' and 
        inserting a period; and
            (3) by striking paragraph (7).

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR LABOR CAPACITY BUILDING.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Labor, 
for each of the fiscal years 2018 through 2020, $20,000,000 for the 
Bureau of International Labor Affairs, to be available to assist 
countries in meeting the labor obligations described in section 
502(b)(G)(i)(I) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended by section 2.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    The United States Trade Representative, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Labor, shall prescribe such regulations as may be 
necessary--
            (1) to provide for the receipt of public petitions from any 
        person at any time with respect to the compliance of countries 
        with the labor obligations described in section 502(b)(G)(i)(I) 
        of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended by section 2;
            (2) to provide for a thorough and expeditious review of 
        such petitions by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs of 
        the Department of Labor;
            (3) to provide a written rationale in the Federal Register 
        supporting any decisions made with respect to such petitions; 
        and
            (4) to provide for the timely withdrawal, suspension, or 
        limitation of duty-free treatment, at a national or industry 
        level, as appropriate, under title V of the Trade Act of 1974 
        (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) for violations of the labor 
        obligations described in section 502(b)(G)(i)(I) of the Trade 
        Act of 1974, as amended by section 2, by a beneficiary 
        developing country under that title.
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