§4111 Periodic reports and meetings on labor obligations and labor capacity-building provisions

Summary

The President must send Congress a report within 2 years after the trade agreement starts, and then every 2 years for the next 14 years. Each report must say how the CAFTA–DR countries are carrying out Chapter Sixteen and Annex 16.5 of the agreement and how they are carrying out the White Paper. White Paper — the April 2005 report by the Working Group of Vice Ministers on labor in Central America and the Dominican Republic titled "The Labor Dimension in Central America and the Dominican Republic - Building on Progress: Strengthening Compliance and Enhancing Capacity." Each report must describe what the Labor Cooperation and Capacity Building Mechanism and the Labor Affairs Council have done (projects, funds, and results for each country), give ideas on how the United States can help finish the White Paper recommendations, describe work with the International Labor Organization and other groups, and summarize public comments on U.S. capacity-building efforts, U.S. help to implement the White Paper, and the CAFTA–DR countries’ efforts and progress protecting worker rights. The President must set up a way to collect public comments. The Secretary of Labor should meet regularly with the CAFTA–DR labor ministers to talk about how the labor parts of the agreement are working, progress on the White Paper recommendations, ILO and other cooperative work to protect worker rights, and other relevant topics. The President may include summaries of those meetings in the reports.