Commercial Information Circulars

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e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 111/1/5/1

20 December 2010

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 598/2010

US : Initial Determination Revising the List of Products requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced/Indentured Child Labour pursuant to Executive Order 13126

The US Department of Labour (DoL) published in the Federal Register of 16 December 2010 a notice to announce the initial determination proposing to revise the "List of Products requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced/Indentured Child Labour" pursuant to Executive Order No. 13126 "Prohibition of Acquisition of Products produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labour" (EO 13126). Interested parties may submit comments to the DoL by 15 February 2011. The FR notice is available at : http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-31213.pdf.

DETAILS

2. The EO 13126, published in the FR on 16 June 1999, was the US policy that the executive agencies must take appropriate actions to enforce the laws prohibiting the manufacture or importation of good, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part by forced or indentured child labour. Pursuant to the EO 13126, the DoL published in January 2001 the first "List of Products requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced/Indentured Child Labour" (the List) and "Procedural Guidelines for Maintenance of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labour" (Procedural Guidelines). The current List was last updated on 20 July 2010. The current List and the implementation details of EO 13126 are available at:
   http://www.dol.gov/ilab/regs/eo13126/main.htm. 
    

3. In accordance with the Procedural Guidelines, and based on recent, credible, and appropriately corroborated information from various sources, the DoL, the US Department of State, and the US Department of Homeland Security now propose to revise the List by:

1. adding hand-woven textiles originated from Ethiopia, and 
    

2. removing charcoal originated from Brazil. 

The DoL invites public comments on these proposed revisions to the List as well as other revisions (regardless whether the revisions are mentioned in this FR notice) to the List. 

4. Traders are reminded that the current List, last updated in July 2010, remains valid until the publication of an updated List. Pursuant to EO 13126, the current List and the final rule published by the US Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council in January 2001, Federal contractors who supply products that appear on the List under procurement by the US Government must certify, among other things, to the contracting officer that they have made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labour 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 labour.
    

5. Separately, pursuant to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (TVPRA), the DoL published on 15 December 2010 an updated List of Goods Produced by Child Labour or Forced Labour. This update adds 6 new goods and 12 new countries to the List, now covering a total of 134 goods from 70 countries that are believed to be produced by child or forced labour in violation of international standards. Details of the TVPRA, including the updated List contained in the 2010 report by DoL and a set of relevant FAQs, are available at : http://www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/ocft/tvpra.htm.

ENQUIRIES

6. For enquiries concerning this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5682.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Carmen CHAN)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry