Topic: Foreign Trade — Trade Agreements
Subject: International affairs
Date: 2009-11-19 00:00:00

Conflict Minerals Trade Act - States that it is U.S. policy to promote peace in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo by supporting efforts of the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, other governments in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, and the international community to: (1) stop commercial activities involving the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that contribute to armed groups and human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and (2) develop stronger governance and economic institutions to improve transparency in the cross-border trade of natural resources in order to reduce exploitation by armed groups and promote local and regional development. Directs the Secretary of State to: (1) produce a Congo Conflict Minerals Map of mineral-rich zones and areas under the control of armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and (2) submit a related report to the appropriate congressional committees. Directs the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce to provide guidance to commercial entities seeking to exercise due diligence to ensure that conflict minerals used in their products do not finance armed conflict, result in labor or human rights violations, or damage the environment. Directs the Secretary to: (1) submit a strategy to the appropriate congressional committees addressing linkages between human rights abuses, armed groups, and the mining of conflict minerals; (2) ensure that the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices relating to the Democratic Republic of the Congo or countries that share a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo include a description of instances where the extraction and cross-border trade in conflict minerals has negatively affected human rights conditions; and (3) include in the annual report to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Investment Committee a description of efforts to ensure that enterprises under U.S. jurisdiction are exercising diligence to ensure that their purchases of minerals or metals are not originating from mines and trading routes that are used to finance armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should expand programs to assist communities in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo whose livelihoods depend on the mineral trade. Directs the Secretary of Commerce to annually publish in the Federal Register a list of articles specified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States that should be identified as likely containing conflict minerals. Requires importers of articles specified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States that are included on the potential conflict goods list to certify on the importer's Customs declaration that such articles contain conflict minerals or are conflict mineral free. Sets forth: (1) penalties relating to the introduction of goods that contain conflict minerals into the United States; and (2) events that must prior to the expiration of this Act's provisions.