29 U.S.C. § 212
No producer, manufacturer, or dealer shall ship or deliver for shipment in commerce any goods produced in an establishment situated in the United States in or about which within thirty days prior to the removal of such goods therefrom any oppressive child labor has been employed: Provided, That any such shipment or delivery for shipment of such goods by a purchaser who acquired them in good faith in reliance on written assurance from the producer, manufacturer, or dealer that the goods were produced in compliance with the requirements of this section, and who acquired such goods for value without notice of any such violation, shall not be deemed prohibited by this subsection: And provided further, That a prosecution and conviction of a defendant for the shipment or delivery for shipment of any goods under the conditions herein prohibited shall be a bar to any further prosecution against the same defendant for shipments or deliveries for shipment of any such goods before the beginning of said prosecution.
The Secretary of Labor or any of his authorized representatives, shall make all investigations and inspections under section 211(a) of this title with respect to the employment of minors, and, subject to the direction and control of the Attorney General, shall bring all actions under section 217 of this title to enjoin any act or practice which is unlawful by reason of the existence of oppressive child labor, and shall administer all other provisions of this chapter relating to oppressive child labor.
No employer shall employ any oppressive child labor in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce or in any enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce.
In order to carry out the objectives of this section, the Secretary may by regulation require employers to obtain from any employee proof of age.
29 U.S.C. § 212
EDITORIAL NOTES
AMENDMENTS1974-Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 93-259 added subsec. (d). 1961-Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 87-30 inserted "or in any enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce".1949-Subsec. (a). Act Oct. 26, 1949, §10(a), struck out effective date at beginning of subsection and inserted proviso excepting good faith purchaser of goods produced by oppressive child labor.Subsec. (c). Act Oct. 26, 1949, §10(b), added subsec. (c).
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1974 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 93-259 effective May 1, 1974, see section 29(a) of Pub. L. 93-259 set out as a note under section 202 of this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1961 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 87-30 effective upon expiration of one hundred and twenty days after May 5, 1961, except as otherwise provided, see section 14 of Pub. L. 87-30 set out as a note under section 203 of this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1949 AMENDMENT Amendment by act Oct. 26, 1949, effective ninety days after Oct. 26, 1949, see section 16(a) of act Oct. 26, 1949, set out as a note under section 202 of this title.
EXECUTIVE DOCUMENTS
TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONSFor transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of Labor, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Labor, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 6 of 1950, §§1, 2, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees."Secretary of Labor" substituted for "Chief of the Children's Bureau in the Department of Labor" in subsec. (b) by 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 2. See note set out under section 203 of this title.
- Commerce
- "Commerce" means trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or between any State and any place outside thereof.
- Employ
- "Employ" includes to suffer or permit to work.
- Employer
- "Employer" includes any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee and includes a public agency, but does not include any labor organization (other than when acting as an employer) or anyone acting in the capacity of officer or agent of such labor organization.
- Enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce
- "Enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce" means an enterprise that-(A)(i) has employees engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or that has employees handling, selling, or otherwise working on goods or materials that have been moved in or produced for commerce by any person; and(ii) is an enterprise whose annual gross volume of sales made or business done is not less than $500,000 (exclusive of excise taxes at the retail level that are separately stated);(B) is engaged in the operation of a hospital, an institution primarily engaged in the care of the sick, the aged, or the mentally ill or defective who reside on the premises of such institution, a school for mentally or physically handicapped or gifted children, a preschool, elementary or secondary school, or an institution of higher education (regardless of whether or not such hospital, institution, or school is public or private or operated for profit or not for profit); or(C) is an activity of a public agency.
- Goods
- "Goods" means goods (including ships and marine equipment), wares, products, commodities, merchandise, or articles or subjects of commerce of any character, or any part or ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.
- Oppressive child labor
- "Oppressive child labor" means a condition of employment under which (1) any employee under the age of sixteen years is employed by an employer (other than a parent or a person standing in place of a parent employing his own child or a child in his custody under the age of sixteen years in an occupation other than manufacturing or mining or an occupation found by the Secretary of Labor to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years or detrimental to their health or well-being) in any occupation, or (2) any employee between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years is employed by an employer in any occupation which the Secretary of Labor shall find and by order declare to be particularly hazardous for the employment of children between such ages or detrimental to their health or well-being; but oppressive child labor shall not be deemed to exist by virtue of the employment in any occupation of any person with respect to whom the employer shall have on file an unexpired certificate issued and held pursuant to regulations of the Secretary of Labor certifying that such person is above the oppressive child-labor age. The Secretary of Labor shall provide by regulation or by order that the employment of employees between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years in occupations other than manufacturing and mining shall not be deemed to constitute oppressive child labor if and to the extent that the Secretary of Labor determines that such employment is confined to periods which will not interfere with their schooling and to conditions which will not interfere with their health and well-being.
- Produced
- "Produced" means produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any other manner worked on in any State; and for the purposes of this chapter an employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods if such employee was employed in producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on such goods, or in any closely related process or occupation directly essential to the production thereof, in any State.
- Secretary
- "Secretary" means the Secretary of Labor.