Bureau of International Labor Affairs; Request for Information
Concerning Labor Rights in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
and Nicaragua and Their Laws Governing Exploitative Child Labor [04/21/2003]
Volume 68, Number 76, Page 19580-19582
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
Bureau of International Labor Affairs; Request for Information
Concerning Labor Rights in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
and Nicaragua and Their Laws Governing Exploitative Child Labor
AGENCIES: Office of the Secretary, Labor; Office of the United States
Trade Representative and Department of State.
[[Page 19581]]
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice is a request for public comments to assist the
Secretary of Labor, the United States Trade Representative, and the
Secretary of State in preparing reports regarding labor rights in the
five member countries of the Central American Economic Integrations
System (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) and
describing the extent to which they have in effect laws governing
exploitative child labor. The Trade Act of 2002 requires reports on
these issues and others when the President intends to use trade
promotion authority procedures in connection with legislation approving
and implementing a trade agreement. On October 1, 2002, in accordance
with section 2104(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 2002, the United States
Trade Representative (USTR) notified the Congress of the President's
intent to enter into trade negotiations with these five countries of
Central America. The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC)
invited the public to provide written comments and/or oral testimony at
a public hearing conducted on November 19, 2002 to assist USTR in
formulating positions and proposals with respect to all aspects of the
negotiations (67 FR 63187) (Oct. 10, 2002). The first round of the
U.S.--Central America FTA negotiations took place January 27-31 in
Costa Rica, a the second round took place February 24-28 in Cincinnati,
Ohio, and a third round took place March 31--April 4 in El Salvador. A
fourth round is scheduled for May 12th in Guatemala, and negotiations
are expected to be completed by the end of 2003. Any agreement
resulting from these negotiations will be subject to trade promotion
authority procedures. The President assigned the functions of preparing
reports regarding labor rights and the existence of laws governing
exploitative child labor to the Secretary of Labor, in consultation
with the Secretary of State and the United States Trade Representative.
The Secretary of Labor further assigned these functions to the
Secretary of State and the United States Trade Representative.
DATES: Public comments should be received no later than 5 p.m. June 5,
2003.
ADDRESSES: Persons submitting comments are strongly advised to make
such submissions by electronic mail to the following address:
FRFTACAFTA@dol.gov. Submissions by facsimile may be sent to: Betsy
White at the Office of International Economic Affairs, Bureau of
International Labor Affairs (202) 693-4851.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions regarding the
submissions, please contact Betsy White, Office of International
Economic Affairs, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, at (202) 693-
4919, facsimile (202) 693-4851. These are not toll-free numbers.
Substantive questions concerning the labor rights report and/or the
report on Central America's laws governing exploitative child labor
should be addressed to Jorge Perez-Lopez, Office of International
Economic Affairs, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S.
Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20210, telephone (202) 693-4883.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Trade Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) (the Trade Act) sets forth
special procedures (Trade Promotion Authority) for approval and
implementation of Agreements subject to meeting conditions and
requirements in the Act. Division B of the Trade Act, entitled the
Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002. The Trade Act
includes negotiating objectives and a listing of priorities for the
President to promote in order to ``address and maintain United States
competitiveness in the global economy'' in pursuing future trade
agreements. 19 U.S.C. 3802(a)-(c). The President delegated several of
the functions in section 3802(c) to the Secretary of Labor. (E.O.
13277). These include the functions set forth in section 2102(c)(8),
which requires that the President ``in connection with any trade
negotiations entered into under this Act, submit to the Committee on
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Finance of the Senate a meaningful labor rights report of the country,
or countries, with respect to which the President is negotiating'' and
the function in section 2102(c)(9), which requires that the President
``with respect to any trade agreement which the President seeks to
implement under trade authorities procedures, submit to the Congress a
report describing the extent to which the country or countries that are
parties to the agreement have in effect laws governing exploitative
child labor.'' The notification letters to the Congress regarding the
President's intent to enter into trade negotiations with Central
America can be found on the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/2002-10-01-centralamerica-house.PDF
and http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/2002-10-01-centralamerica-senate.PDF.
II. Information Sought
Interested parties are invited to submit written information as
specified below to be taken into account in drafting the required
reports. Materials submitted should be confined to the specific topics
of the reports. In particular, agencies are seeking written submissions
on the following topics:
1. Labor laws, including laws governing exploitative child labor,
of the five Central American countries that are participating in the
negotiations and each country's implementation and enforcement of its
labor laws and regulations;
2. The situation in these five countries of Central America with
respect to core labor standards;
3. Steps taken by the five countries to comply with International
Labor Organization Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor;
and
4. The nature and extent, if any, of exploitative child labor in
each of these five countries of Central America.
Section 2113(6) of the Trade Act defines ``core labor standards''
as:
(A) The right of association;
(B) The right to organize and bargain collectively;
(C) A prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory
labor;
(D) A minimum age for the employment of children; and
(E) Acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages,
hours of work, and occupational safety and health.
III. Requirements for Submissions
This document is a request for facts or opinions submitted in
response to a general solicitation of comments from the public. To
ensure prompt and full consideration of submissions, we strongly
recommend that interested persons submit comments by electronic mail to
the following e-mail address: FRFTACAFTA@dol.gov. Persons making
submissions by e-mail should use the following subject line: ``Central
America: Labor Rights and Child Labor Reports.'' Documents should be
submitted in WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) format. Supporting
documentation submitted as spreadsheets is acceptable in Quattro Pro or
Excel format. Persons who make submissions by e-mail should not provide
separate cover letters; information that might appear in a cover letter
should be included in the submission itself. Similarly, to the extent
possible, any attachments to the submission should be included in the
[[Page 19582]]
same file as the submission itself, and not as separate files. Written
comments will be placed in a file open to public inspection at the
Department of Labor, Room S-5317, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW.,
Washington DC and in the USTR Reading Room in Room 3 of the annex of
the Office of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508. An
appointment to review the file at the Department of Labor may be made
by contacting Betsy White at (202) 693-4919. An appointment to review
the file at USTR may be made by calling (202) 395-6186. The USTR
Reading Room is generally open to the public from 10 a.m.-12 noon and
1-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Appointments must be scheduled at least
48 hours in advance.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 16th of April 2003.
Thomas B. Moorhead,
Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs.
[FR Doc. 03-9797 Filed 4-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-28-P
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