Ex. Ord. No. 13126. Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor

Ex. Ord. No. 13126, June 12, 1999, 64 F.R. 32383, provided:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to continue the executive branch's commitment to fighting abusive child labor practices, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section. 1. Policy. It shall be the policy of the United States Government, consistent with the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. 1307, the Fair Labor Standards Act [of 1938], 29 U.S.C. 201 et. seq., and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act [Walsh-Healey Act], [former] 41 U.S.C. 35 et seq. [see 41 U.S.C. 6501 et seq.], that executive agencies shall take appropriate actions to enforce the laws prohibiting the manufacture or importation of goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced or indentured child labor.

Sec. 2. Publication of List. Within 120 days after the date of this order, the Department of Labor, in consultation and cooperation with the Department of the Treasury and the Department of State, shall publish in the Federal Register a list of products, identified by their country of origin, that those Departments have a reasonable basis to believe might have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. The Department of Labor may conduct hearings to assist in the identification of those products.

Sec. 3. Procurement Regulations. Within 120 days after the date of this order, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall issue proposed rules to implement the following:

(a) Required Solicitation Provisions. Each solicitation of offers for a contract for the procurement of a product included on the list published under section 2 of this order shall include the following provisions:

(1) A provision that requires the contractor to certify to the contracting officer that the contractor or, in the case of an incorporated contractor, a responsible official of the contractor has made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labor was used to mine, produce, or manufacture any product furnished under the contract and that, on the basis of those efforts, the contractor is unaware of any such use of child labor; and

(2) A provision that obligates the contractor to cooperate fully in providing reasonable access to the contractor's records, documents, persons, or premises if reasonably requested by authorized officials of the contracting agency, the Department of the Treasury, or the Department of Justice, for the purpose of determining whether forced or indentured child labor was used to mine, produce, or manufacture any product furnished under the contract.

(b) Investigations. Whenever a contracting officer of an executive agency has reason to believe that forced or indentured child labor was used to mine, produce, or manufacture a product furnished pursuant to a contract subject to the requirements of subsection 3(a) of this order, the head of the executive agency shall refer the matter for investigation to the Inspector General of the executive agency and, as the head of the executive agency or the Inspector General determines appropriate, to the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury.

(c) Remedies.

(1) The head of an executive agency may impose remedies as provided in this subsection in the case of a contractor under a contract of the executive agency if the head of the executive agency finds that the contractor:

(i) Has furnished under the contract products that have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor or uses forced or indentured child labor in the mining, production, or manufacturing operations of the contractor;

(ii) Has submitted a false certification under subsection 3(a)(1) of this order; or

(iii) Has failed to cooperate in accordance with the obligation imposed pursuant to subsection 3(a)(2) of this order.

(2) The head of an executive agency, in his or her sole discretion, may terminate a contract on the basis of any finding described in subsection 3(c)(1) of this order for any contract entered into after the date the regulation called for in section 3 of this order is published in final.

(3) The head of an executive agency may debar or suspend a contractor from eligibility for Federal contracts on the basis of a finding that the contractor has engaged in an act described in subsection 3(c)(1) of this order. The provision for debarment may not exceed 3 years.

(4) The Administrator of General Services shall include on the List of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs (maintained by the Administrator as described in the Federal Acquisition Regulation) each party that is debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment or suspension, or declared ineligible by the head of an agency on the basis that the person has engaged in an act described in subsection 3(c)(1) of this order.

(5) This section shall not be construed to limit the use of other remedies available to the head of an executive agency or any other official of the Federal Government on the basis of a finding described in subsection 3(c)(1) of this order.

Sec. 4. Report. Within 2 years after implementation of any final rule under this order, the Administrator of General Services, with the assistance of other executive agencies, shall submit to the Office of Management and Budget a report on the actions taken pursuant to this order.

Sec. 5. Scope. (a) Any proposed rules issued pursuant to section 3 of this order shall apply only to acquisitions for a total amount in excess of the micro-purchase threshold as defined in section 32(f) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 428(f)).

(b) This order does not apply to a contract that is for the procurement of any product, or any article, material, or supply contained in a product that is mined, produced, or manufactured in any foreign country if:

(1) the foreign country is a party to the Agreement on Government Procurement annexed to the WTO Agreement or a party to the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA"); and

(2) the contract is of a value that is equal to or greater than the United States threshold specified in the Agreement on Government Procurement annexed to the WTO Agreement or NAFTA, whichever is applicable.

Sec. 6. Definitions. (a) "Executive agency" and "agency" have the meaning given to "executive agency" in section 4(1) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(1)).

(b) "WTO Agreement" means the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, entered into on April 15, 1994.

(c) "Forced or indentured child labor" means all work or service (1) exacted from any person under the age of 18 under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily; or (2) performed by any person under the age of 18 pursuant to a contract the enforcement of which can be accomplished by process or penalties.

Sec. 7. Judicial Review. This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the executive branch and does not create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable by law by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any other person.

William J. Clinton.