The Department of Labor announced July 29, 2010 a new contribution of $10 million to support the Government of El Salvador’s efforts to combat and eradicated child labor. One day later, the USTR Kirk made an unprecedented statement calling the Guatemalan government for consultations under the CAFTA-DR Free Trade Agreement (FTA). These announcements are only the latest in a series of actions highlighting the prominent role of standards enforcement for the current U.S. Administration.
Less than two weeks prior, the U.S. government published a list of products believed to be made under forced child labor, known as the EO 13126 List. Federal contractors who supply products that appear on the EO List must certify to the contracting officer that the contractor has made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labor was used to mine, produce or manufacture any end product furnished under the contract and that, on the basis of those efforts, the contractor is unaware of any such use of child labor.
There are other U.S. government initiatives where action on labor enforcement is imminent. The Department of Agriculture is expected to publish recommended procedures to ensure that products harvested with child or forced labor are not sold in the U.S. market. The Department of Labor (DOL) is also to develop its own standards and guidelines for industries, based on the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) list of goods that DOL has reason to believe are produced by forced labor or child labor in violation of international standards. On the legislative front, the proposed Senate version of the Customs Enforcement Reauthorization Act will seek, among other things, to eliminative the “consumptive demand” clause for products made with forced labor and to establish a labor enforcement office within the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency.
We expect the enforcement of labor standards to continue. International governments and companies ought to be aware of the challenges and opportunities under the current environment. If you would like to learn more about any of the initiatives aforementioned, or you would like to know how you can better protect your business from labor violations allegations, please contact Mo Rajan, mrajan@strtrade.com, or David Olave, dolave@strtrade.com.
