Labor Dept Says No Decision Yet on India Carpets and Child or Forced Labor
Deputy Undersecretary of Labor Polaski issued a statement on November 9, 2010 to clarify that contrary to a recent statement by India's Ministry of Textiles, the Labor Department has not yet made a final determination about whether carpets from India are produced with child labor, forced child labor, or forced labor.
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India Recently Hailed U.S. Decision to “Delete” India Carpets from List
According to Undersecretary Polaski, “Recently the Carpet Export Promotion Council (India's Ministry of Textiles) hailed 'the decision of the U.S. Department of Labor in deleting Indian carpets as a product produced by forced labor or child labor in violation of international norms..."
Labor Says India Carpets Only Temporarily Removed from One List
The Labor Department states that this is not true and explains that it regularly publishes and updates the following two lists:
- List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, which includes products the agency has reason to believe are produced by child labor and/or forced labor in violation of international standards; and
- List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor.
According to Polaski, the latest List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor issued in September 2009 currently includes carpets from India under the categories of both child labor and forced labor. However, the most recent List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification issued in July 2010 does not include carpets from India.
She explains that even though a proposed update to the Contractor Certification list issued in September 2009 included carpets from India, the “final” July 2010 update does not. This is because the Labor Department received comments from the Carpet Export Promotion Council suggesting the situation may have changed significantly.
Decisions on India Carpets Not Final, Waiting for Research Results
Polaski states that as child labor and forced labor often occur in informal production of goods, the Labor Department believes that more information is needed to make a final determination on whether carpets from India should be included on both of its lists. The agency has therefore contracted out extensive field research on the topic and plans to wait until it receives this information to make its final decision on whether to include carpets from India on both lists.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/20/10 and 09/11/09 news, 10072022 and 09091110, for BP summaries of the Labor Department’s “final” July 2010 and preliminary September 2009 lists of products that require federal contractor certification.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/18/09 news, 09091815, for BP summary for Labor’s September 2009 list of goods from countries it has reason to believe are produced by child labor and/or forced labor.)