Background & Resources

Conflict Minerals - a Challenge for Business

Companies that are publicly traded in the USA (called „issuers“ under the law) need to disclose whether or not conflict minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of a product they manufacture originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If they did, they must submit a report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (including due diligence specification and an independent third party audit).

 

Reporting requirements are passed down the supply chain
Companies not publicly traded in the USA are not directly affected by the Dodd-Frank Act, which means they are not legally required to proactively deal with conflict minerals reporting. However, any company which is a supplier of publicly traded US companies will be indirectly affected, because the reporting requirements are passed down the supply chain. This means that requests from customer companies need to be dealt with.

Background Information

The RMI Reporting Framework

To read more about the Conflict Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) reporting framework, please visit: www.responsiblemineralsinitiative.org

Conflict Minerals Background

Conflict Minerals is a term used to describe critical raw materials that are mined in conditions of violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries. To get more background information about the situation in the Congo, please visit: www.enoughproject.org

Conflict Minerals Legislation in the USA

To help mitigate violence in the Congo, the US congress has passed legislation which is designed to force companies to disclose whether or not their products contain conflict minerals.

Learn more

 

The relevant rule is included in section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

“It is the sense of Congress that the exploitation and trade of conflict minerals originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is helping to finance conflict characterized by extreme levels of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly sexual- and gender-based violence, and contributing to an emergency humanitarian situation therein, warranting the provisions of section 13(p) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as added by subsection (b).”

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has created a ruling which details the obligations for affected companies (so-called "issuers") that are arising from this new law.

To read more about the Dodd-Frank Act, please visit:

http://www.sec.gov/about/laws/wallstreetreform-cpa.pdf

To read more about the SEC Conflict Minerals Ruling, go to:

http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2012/34-67716.pdf

 

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