The State of California's law to require disclosure by large manufacturers and retailers of their efforts to abolish slavery and human trafficking in their supply chain will come into effect in the next five months.

The statewide law, California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, was approved back in October 2010. The law requires all apparel and footwear retailers as well as manufacturers with global sales of more than $100 million a year to make the disclosures on their companies' Websites or send written disclosures at the request of customers if no Websites are available.

Aside from stating the efforts taken by the companies to eliminate slavery, the disclosures must contain educational information for consumers on how to purchase goods produced by companies that manage their supply chains responsibly.

Under the guidelines of the content disclosures, companies have to provide information regarding:

Verification of product supply chain to evaluate and address risks of human trafficking and slavery; must specify if audit was done by a third party or through company's internal department

Audits of suppliers; must ensure suppliers' compliance with company standards

Certification requirements on direct suppliers to ensure all materials do not violate the proposed law

Maintenance of internal accountability standards and procedures for employees and contractors

Training for employees and management on slavery and human trafficking risks mitigation

Encouraged by the soon-to-take-effect Californian law, a group of Congressional members recently submitted a similar bill to be passed at the federal level.  The bill, which was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, requires companies to include in their annual reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures describing companies' efforts to tackle the same issues within their supply chains.

The bill was introduced in August by a group of U.S. representatives including Carolyn Maloney of New York, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Jackie Speier of California, and James McGovern of Massachusetts.