Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Legislation Survey
By Alexandra Wong
The Business and Human Rights Legislation Survey presents pending and current legislation
impacting business and human rights issues in the United States. The Survey considers
various pieces of legislation detailing the relevant obligations created by them and their
impact on business and human rights.
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Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (12 USC
5301)
• Became U.S. Law on July 21, 2010. Was originally House Bill H.R.4173
(sponsored by Chris Dodd) and also known as Public Law 111-203
• Other Information:
i. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin-lissakers/wall-street-reform-
includ_b_643399.html
iii. Sec. 201: U.S. businesses that provide a search engine service or other
online communication services is not allowed to locate any personally
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identifiable information that was used to establish an account in
countries that have been designated Internet-restricting. However, in
subsection (b), the Secretary of State has the power to waive the
application of this section if events such as national interest come up.
v. Sec. 203 & 204: U.S. businesses that runs a search engine or a website
will have to notify the Office of Global Internet Freedom of the content
that they have blocked, restricted, or removed upon the request of the
Internet-restricting country or to comply with the policies of the
Internet-restricting country.
vi. Sec. 206: Lists the penalties that U.S. business can face for violations of
this act.
vii. Sec. 207: The president is allowed to waive the application of this act if a
country ceases restrictive activity, to further the purposes of this Act or
if it is in the national interest of the United States.
• Latest Actions
• 5/6/2009: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
• 5/6/2009: Referred to House Foreign Affairs
• 5/6/2009: Referred to House Energy and Commerce
• Other information:
http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=322701
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i. Note that according to Sec. 3267(a), the definition of persons who can be
prosecuted under this Act covers those military contractors and
subcontractors who were previously not included as part of the armed
forces.
ii. Sec. 3261(c): Those who can be prosecuted are still subject to military
tribunals.
iii. Sec. 3262 and 3263: This part allows for the foreign arrest of those
described in Sec. 3261(a) as well as for their removal to appropriate
foreign authorities.
iv. Sec. 3261(b)(1): Those employed by or accompanying the Armed Forces
outside of the United States" can include non-U.S. nationals who are still
potentially subject to criminal prosecution.
ii. This requires companies to weigh the impact of climate-change laws and
regulations when assessing what information to include in corporate
filings. For instance, they have to consider whether: 1. international
accords and treaties, 2. indirect effects such as lower demand for goods
that produce greenhouse gases, and 3. physical impacts such as rising sea
levels affecting their business models would trigger disclosure
requirements.
• Other information:
i. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aj7R1g1QkI
iQ
ii. http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/28/28climatewire-sec-issues-
climate-risk-guidance-despite-tou-27171.html
iii. http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/2010/sec-issues-guidance-
regarding-potential-climate-change-legislation/
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