ILAB Proposes Guidelines for Developing a List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor
The Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs has issued proposed procedural guidelines for the development and maintenance of a list of goods from countries produced by child labor or forced labor in violation of international standards.
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Comments on these proposed procedural guidelines are due by October 31, 2007.
According to ILAB, the guidelines will provide a framework to implement the mandate in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 that required ILAB to, among other things, develop and make public a list of goods from countries that ILAB has reason to believe are produced by child labor1 or forced labor2 or in violation of international standards.
Consideration Would be Given to Info.'s Source, Relevance, Corroboration, Etc.
In developing the list, ILAB's Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (Office) will make use of all relevant information, whether gathered through research, public submissions of information, public hearings, interagency consultations or other means.
However, the Office will consider and weigh several factors including the information's (1) nature and whether it is relevant and probative; (2) date (not older than seven years at the time of receipt); (3) source; (4) extent of corroboration; and (5) significant incidence (i.e. whether or not the information relates to an isolated incident or single company occurrence).
Stages in Production Chain Would Determine Which Goods are Placed on List
In determining which goods to place on the list, the Office would, as appropriate, take into consideration the stages in the good's production chain (e.g., if child labor or forced labor were only used in the harvesting of a final good, only the raw materials and the country(ies) where they were harvested may be placed on the list). ILAB states that this is to ensure a direct correspondence between the goods and countries which appear on the list and the use of child or forced labor.
Goods/Countries Meeting Criteria Would Be Placed on Public List and Updated
Goods and countries that meet the criteria outlined in the procedural guidelines (along with the sources used to identify them) would be placed on a list published in the Federal Register and on the Labor Department's Web site. Following publication, the Office would periodically review and revise the list as appropriate.
According to the proposed procedural guidelines, in order for an entry to be removed from the list, information must be provided that demonstrates that there is no significant incidence of child labor or forced labor in the production of the particular good in the country in question.
1"Child labor" means all work performed by a person below the age of 15 as well as work performed by a person below the age of 18 in certain practices such as slavery, forced labor, for prostitution, etc.
2"Forced labor" means all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily, including indentured labor.
ILAB contact - Charita Castro (202) 693-4843
ILAB notice (FR Pub 10/01/07) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/E7-19310.pdf