As part of its fiscal year 2011 budget justification document, the Department of Homeland Security listed numerous FY 2011 goals for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Highlights of those goals for ICE's Offices of Domestic and International Investigations include:
The Foreign Agricultural Service has issued a notice announcing that it will hold a public meeting of the Consultative Group to Eliminate the Use of Child Labor and Forced Labor in Imported Agricultural Products1 on March 29, 2010.
The Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has issued a notice seeking information on child labor and forced labor in foreign countries as part of its preparation to meet various reporting requirements.
The Labor Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs has issued a report and initial list of 122 goods in 58 countries it has reason to believe are produced with forced labor, child labor, or both, in violation of international standards.
The Labor Department and the Departments of State and Homeland Security have preliminarily concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the following products, identified by their country of origin, might have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor:
On August 6, 2009, Senate Finance Committee leaders Baucus (D) and Grassley (R) introduced the "Customs Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2009" (S.1631).
The House Rules Committee has posted the amendments that have been offered for the "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" (ACES), H.R. 2454, which the House is scheduled to considered on June 26, 2009.
On April 28, 2009 China and Peru signed a free trade agreement in Beijing. The agreement is the first FTA package China has signed with a Latin American country. (Notice, dated 04/28/09, available at http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6647262.html)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a news release announcing the conclusion of the Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review for Taiwan. The USTR recognized Taiwan's progress on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights by removing Taiwan from the Special 301 Watch List. (USTR news release, dated 01/16/09, available at http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2009/January/asset_upload_file824_15293.pdf)
The Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has issued a notice requesting information, for use in preparing the eighth annual report, regarding the implementation of international commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor by countries seeking benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), Caribbean Basin Trade and Partnership Act (CBTPA), the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the Andean Trade Preference Act as amended and expanded by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPA/ATPDEA).