The SHIELD Act would require the President to impose sanctions on any foreign person who employs forced labor or child labor in the cobalt mining sector of a foreign country. Sanctions the President may use include blocking assets under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and making affected foreign individuals inadmissible to the United States and ineligible for visas, with current visas revoked.
The bill includes exceptions for admitting someone when required by certain international agreements and for transactions that involve food, medicine, medical devices, humanitarian assistance, or transportation and financial activity needed to provide humanitarian aid. The President may use additional authorities under IEEPA to implement the sanctions and apply penalties for violations of implementing regulations. The President may also waive sanctions for national security reasons with a 15-day notice to specified congressional committees. The authority to impose these sanctions would expire seven years after enactment. The bill defines key terms such as "foreign person" and "United States person."
No publicly available information.
The bill's "Sense of Congress" states that forced labor and illegal child labor are grievous human rights abuses, that reports show widespread forced and child labor in cobalt mining sectors, and that the United States should impose economic costs on foreign entities that use forced or child labor in cobalt mining.
No publicly available information.