Source : Procurement Leaders

The US government has announced a clamp down on companies that import products that are manufactured by suppliers using child or slave labour.

The US Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs yesterday published a revised list of products that federal contractors must certify under Executive Order 13126 are not produced with forced or indentured child labour. The list appears in the April 3 issue of the Federal Register.

The move comes after the US Labor Department, headed by Hilda L. Solis (pictured) in conjunction with the US departments of State and Homeland Security, published a Federal Register notice on Oct. 4, 2011, seeking to revise the list and soliciting public comments.

Three products are being added to the revised list: bricks from Afghanistan as well as cassiterite and coltan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The departments of Labor, State and Homeland Security believe these addition might have been mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labour.

The complete Executive Order 13126 list, the basis for revisions to the list, frequently asked questions, procedural guidelines and procurement compliance information are available online at http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/regs/eo13126/main.htm.