[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6909 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6909
To ensure that goods made using or containing cobalt refined in the
People's Republic of China do not enter the United States market under
the presumption that the cobalt is extracted or processed with the use
of child and forced labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 29, 2023
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Van Drew, and Mr. Nunn of
Iowa) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on
Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Accountability, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure that goods made using or containing cobalt refined in the
People's Republic of China do not enter the United States market under
the presumption that the cobalt is extracted or processed with the use
of child and forced labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``China's Odious and Brutally
Atrocious Labor Trafficking Supply Chain Act'' or the ``COBALT Supply
Chain Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Cobalt is an essential component of lithium-ion
batteries, which are predominantly used for electric vehicles,
smartphones, and laptops, among other electronic devices.
According to the International Energy Agency, the world is
expected to see a fortyfold increase in lithium demand and a
twentyfold increase in cobalt demand by 2040, as the demand for
electric vehicles is expected to grow significantly during this
period.
(2) More than one-half of the world's cobalt resources are
in the DRC, which supplied approximately 70 percent of the
global cobalt mine production in 2021.
(3) Fifteen of the DRC's 19 cobalt mines were owned or
financed by PRC companies.
(4) Firms based in the PRC hold a near monopoly in the
DRC's cobalt sector, according to the Biden Administration.
(5) The mining industry in the DRC is beset with child
labor and forced labor, disregard for worker safety, and
environmental degradation.
(6) Approximately 15 to 30 percent of cobalt produced in
the DRC comes from artisanal and small-scale mining. An
estimated 255,000 miners work in artisanal and small-scale
mining in the DRC, of whom at least 40,000 are children.
(7) Artisanal production was chiefly exported to the PRC or
processed within the DRC by PRC firms, according to an article
``China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and artisanal
cobalt mining from 2000 through 2020'' published in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed
journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
(8) In the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, the
Department of State emphasized that ``In the [DRC,] artisanal
and small-scale mining of cobalt has been associated with
forced child labor and other abuses'', noting further that
``Since 2015, the TIP Report narratives on the DRC have
highlighted forced labor of children in artisanal cobalt
mines.''. The DRC is on the Tier 2 Watch List, and will be
automatically downgraded to Tier 3, subjecting it to sanctions,
if it does not substantively and consistently improve its
record on trafficking.
(9) Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307)
states that it is illegal to import into the United States
``goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or
manufactured wholly or in part'' by forced labor, including
forced or indentured child labor. Such merchandise is subject
to exclusion or seizure and may lead to criminal investigation
of the importer.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to--
(1) ensure that the PRC does not undermine the effective
enforcement of section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1307);
(2) lead the international community in ending child labor
and forced labor practices wherever such practices occur
through all means available to the United States Government,
including by prohibiting the importation of goods made with
cobalt or containing cobalt extracted from the DRC by companies
from the PRC;
(3) recognize that the PRC's dominance in DRC's cobalt
extraction and the processing and refining of cobalt is a
national security concern of the United States that requires a
strategy developed jointly by the Secretary of State, the
Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads
of other appropriate Federal agencies; and
(4) coordinate with Mexico and Canada to effectively
implement Article 23.6 of the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement to prohibit the importation of goods produced in
whole or in part by forced labor or compulsory labor, including
those goods produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
(XUAR), including the processing of cobalt and goods made with
cobalt.
SEC. 4. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION THAT COVERED GOODS ARE GOODS THAT ARE
MADE WHOLLY OR IN PART WITH FORCED LABOR OR CHILD LABOR.
(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), the
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection--
(1) shall apply a presumption that covered goods are goods
that are made wholly or in part with forced labor or child
labor; and
(2) shall prohibit the entry of such goods at any of the
ports and the United States, and shall otherwise prohibit the
importation of such goods, in accordance with section 307 of
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307).
(b) Exception.--The requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) of
subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to covered goods if the
Commissioner determines that the importer of record of the covered
goods has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that such goods
do not contain cobalt refined in the PRC.
(c) Report Required.--The Commissioner shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees and make available to the public,
not later than 30 days after making a determination to apply the
exception under subsection (b) with respect to any covered goods, a
report identifying the evidence for such determination.
(d) Regulations.--The Commissioner may prescribe regulations--
(1) to implement subsection (b); or
(2) to amend any other regulations in order to implement
this section.
(e) Effective Date.--This section takes effect on the date that is
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed
to limit the application of regulations in effect on, or measures taken
before, the date of the enactment of this Act to prevent the
importation of goods mined, produced, or manufactured, wholly or in
part, with forced labor into the United States, including withhold
release orders issued before such date of enactment.
SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY TO ADDRESS CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR
RELATING TO COVERED GOODS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force,
established under section 741 of the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4681), in consultation with the
heads of other relevant Federal agencies, shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report that--
(1) contains an enforcement strategy of the United States
Government to effectively address enforcement of section 307 of
the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307) to prevent the
importation into the United States of covered goods that
includes measures that--
(A) can be taken to trace the origin of goods,
offer greater supply chain transparency, and identify
third country supply chain routes for the covered
goods; and
(B) ensure that covered goods do not enter the
United States;
(2) contains a strategy to ensure that covered goods do not
enter the United States market as goods imported from third
countries, including from Canada or Mexico;
(3) contains a strategy to ensure that covered goods denied
entry to the United States market do not later enter the United
States market through third countries;
(4) describes authorities to seize or destroy covered goods
denied entry to the United States; and
(5) describes measures to address child labor and forced
labor in the mining, production, smelting, or processing of
metals or minerals, in particular cobalt and lithium and their
derivatives, in the DRC.
(b) Matters To Be Included.--The strategy required by subsection
(a) shall include the following:
(1) A list of--
(A) covered goods;
(B) entities that refine cobalt in the PRC;
(C) entities that mine cobalt in the PRC and
whether any of these entities operate in the Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR);
(D) entities that import covered goods in the
United States;
(E) entities, in the DRC, owned or controlled by
PRC entities, or financed by PRC state-owned banks or
institutions that mine or process cobalt; and
(F) priority sectors for enforcement of imports
made with covered PRC goods, with a sector-specific
enforcement plan for each priority sector.
(2) Recommendations for efforts, initiatives, and tools and
technologies to be adopted to ensure that U.S. Customs and
Border Protection can accurately identify and trace covered
goods.
(3) A description of the additional resources necessary for
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other Federal entities,
including the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, to
effectively implement the strategy.
(4) A description of how the list of entities required by
subparagraphs (B), (C), and (D) of paragraph (1) shall be
regularly updated and reported to the appropriate congressional
committees.
(5) A strategy to coordinate and collaborate with
appropriate nongovernmental organizations and private sector
entities to implement the enforcement strategy for covered
goods and to create and update the list of entities required in
subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1).
(c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) and any publicly
published updates described by subsection (d) shall be submitted in
unclassified form, but may include a classified annex, if necessary.
(d) Updates.--After the submission of the strategy required by
subsection (a), the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force shall provide
briefings to the appropriate congressional committees on a quarterly
basis and, as applicable, on any updates to the strategy required by
subsection (a) or additional actions taken to address the importation
of covered goods, including actions described in this Act.
(e) Sunset.--This section shall cease to have effect on the earlier
of--
(1) the date that is 8 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act; or
(2) the date on which the President submits to the
appropriate congressional committees a determination that child
labor and forced labor in the mining industry of the DRC has
ended, including artisanal and small-scale mining sectors.
SEC. 6. CERTIFICATION THAT FEDERAL VEHICLE PURCHASES ARE FREE OF PARTS
MADE OR MINED WITH CHILD LABOR OR FORCED LABOR.
(a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), not later
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually
thereafter, the President shall certify whether all vehicles purchased
in the prior year by the United States Government are completely free
of parts made or mined, wholly or in part, with child labor or forced
labor in the DRC or the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
(b) Exception.--The certification required by subsection (a) shall
not apply with respect to vehicles purchased in the prior year by the
Department of Defense.
(c) Submission to Congress; Publication in Federal Register.--The
President shall--
(1) submit the certification required by subsection (a) to
the appropriate congressional committees; and
(2) publish such certification in the Federal Register.
(d) Documentation for Certification.--Documentation mapping the
supply chains of all the vehicles and their parts, procured in the
prior year by the United States Government, shall be available upon
request by Members of Congress from the Department of Homeland
Security.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee
on Financial Services, and the Committee on Ways and
Means of the House of Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and
the Committee on Finance of the Senate.
(2) Artisanal and small-scale mining.--The term ``artisanal
and small-scale mining''--
(A) means mining with minimal to no mechanization;
and
(B) includes the use of intensive handtools.
(3) Child labor.--The term ``child labor'' means work that
deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and
their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental
development, as such term is commonly used by the International
Labour Organization.
(4) Covered goods.--The term ``covered goods'' means goods,
wares, articles, or merchandise that contain cobalt refined in
the PRC.
(5) DRC.--The term ``DRC'' means the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
(6) Forced labor.--The term ``forced labor'' has the
meaning given that term in section 307 of the Tariff Act of
1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307).
(7) PRC.--The term ``PRC'' means the People's Republic of
China.
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