United States Department of Labor

Executive Order 13126

Executive Order 13126 [Text] [PDF] on the "Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor," was signed on June 12, 1999. The Executive Order is intended to ensure that U.S. federal agencies do not procure goods made by forced or indentured child labor. It requires the Department of Labor, in consultation with the Departments of State and Homeland Security, to publish and maintain a list of products, by country of origin, which the three Departments have a reasonable basis to believe, might have been mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. Under the procurement regulations implementing the Executive Order, federal contractors who supply products on a list published by the Department of Labor must certify that they have made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labor was used to produce the items listed.

On January 18, 2001, the Department of Labor published in the Federal Register the initial EO 13126 List comprised of 11 products from two countries, as well as the Procedural Guidelines for the "Maintenance of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor" [Text] [PDF]. Also published in the January 18 Federal Register was the GSA's Federal Acquisition Regulation Final Rule [Text] [PDF] to implement the Executive Order.

Revisions to the EO 13126 List

On September 27, 2012, DOL published a Notice of Initial Determination [Text] [PDF] in the Federal Register proposing to add 4 new goods (dried fish, wolframite, cattle and fish) and 3 new countries (South Sudan, Suriname, and Vietnam). Until publication of the final determination, the current April 3, 2012 list remains valid. The notice officially requests public comment on the initial determination for a period of 60 days.

• View the bibliography for each product listed in the September 27, 2012 initial determination (PDF)

On April 3, 2012 DOL released a Notice of Final Determination [Text] [PDF] in the Federal Register revising the list of products to add bricks from Afghanistan and coltan and cassiterite from the Democratic Republic of Congo. With this final determination, the list is comprised of 31 products from 23 countries.

• View the bibliography for each product listed in the April 3, 2012 final determination (PDF)

On October 4, 2011 DOL published a Notice of Initial Determination [Text] [PDF] in the Federal Register proposing to add Bricks from Afghanistan and Cassiterite and Coltan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the list. Until publication of the final determination, the current May 31, 2011 list remains valid. The notice officially requests public comment on the initial determination through December 3, 2011.

On May 31, 2011 DOL released a Notice of Final Determination [Text] [PDF] in the Federal Register updating the EO 13126 list in accordance with the Procedural Guidelines. The final determination sets forth an updated list of products, by country of origin, which DOL, DOS and DHS believe might have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. The final determination contains a list of 21 countries and 29 products.

• View the bibliography for each product listed in the May 31, 2011 final determination (PDF)

On December 16, 2010 DOL published a Notice of Initial Determination [Text] [PDF] proposing to add Hand-Woven Textiles from Ethiopia to the list and to remove Charcoal from Brazil from the list where, preliminarily, DOL had reason to believe that the use of forced or indentured child labor had been significantly reduced. On December 23, 2010 DOL published a correction to the December 16 initial determination.

On July 20, 2010 DOL released a Notice of Final Determination [Text] [PDF] in the Federal Register updating the EO 13126 list in accordance with the Procedural Guidelines. The final determination sets forth an updated list of products, by country of origin, which DOL, DOS and DHS believe might have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. The final determination contains a list of 21 countries and 29 products. Additionally, the final determination provides responses to the most commonly received public comments.

• View the bibliographies for each product listed in the July 20, 2010 final determination (PDF)

On September 11, 2009 DOL published a Notice of Initial Determination [Text] [PDF] in the Federal Register announcing a proposed revision to the EO 13126 List and requesting public comment. All public comments received are available for viewing at www.regulations.gov (reference Docket ID No. DOL-2009-0002).

Current List of Products and Countries on EO 13126 List

The current list of products was published in the April 3, 2012 Federal Register and includes the following:

Frequently Asked Questions

• View questions and answers about the Executive Order 13126 (PDF)

Public Submissions

On October 15, 2008, the Department of Labor released a notice in the Federal Register [Text] [PDF] requesting information from the public on the use of forced child labor in the production of bricks, coal, foundry products, chemicals, cotton, grape products, toys, and fireworks in China under Executive Order 13126. This request was made pursuant to a public submission accepted on October 1, 2007. The July 20, 2010 final determination [Text] [PDF] published in the Federal Register completes consideration of the submission.

On May 10, 2004, the Department of Labor released a Federal Register Notice [Text] [PDF] notifying the public of its intent to continue monitoring the production of cocoa in Cote d'Ivoire, as well as requesting information regarding forced child labor in the cocoa industry in Cote d'Ivoire under Executive Order 13126. This request was made pursuant to a public submission accepted on March 20, 2001. The July 20, 2010 final determination [Text] [PDF] published in the Federal Register completes consideration of the submission.

On May 12, 2003, USDOL published a Notice of Final Determination in the Federal Register [Text] [PDF] regarding forced child labor in the firecracker industry in China. The Department conducted a review pursuant to a public submission accepted on June 29, 2001.