BGR Support for Mineral Certification Seite 10

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the country of origin of the conflict minerals a description of the efforts employed by the reporting company to determine the mine or location of origin of the conflict minerals with the greatest possible specificity Finally the law requires the reporting company to make all of this information publicly available on the company s website The law is likely to have a significant effect on US listed manufacturers of consumer electronics and communication technologies e g computers cell phones but other industries e g jewellery automotive are affected as well Faced with the possibility of some of their consumer products being publicly labelled as DRC conflict products these companies are likely to put heavy pressure on their suppliers to validate their sourcing practice with the results cascading up the mineral chain Some smelters and purchasers may disengage from the region Those that remain will certainly demand that mineral exporters be in a position to thoroughly document the sources of the materials they are selling and be able to demonstrate that these sources do not involve conflict With the advent of the US bill and then its passage interest on the part of companies and governments in the region in mineral traceability and certification increased significantly Indeed a rush has developed to have an adequate response in place by the time US legislation goes into effect However it should be noted that supply chain due diligence is a pro gressive practice based on on going risk assessments where stakeholders need to be given an adequate response time United States Conflict Minerals Legislation The US Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed and signed into law on July 21 2010 Title XV Section 1502 of the Act contains a series of provisions designed to control US listed companies use of conflict minerals For the purposes of the act conflict minerals are defined as coltan columbite tantalite cassiterite wolframite gold and their derivatives The US law applies only to public companies listed on the US stock exchange and required to file quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC It is thus unlikely to apply directly to small scale mineral producers and traders or even smelters Nonetheless its effects will be felt in the region as they indirectly affect all players in the mineral chain The law requires affected companies to disclose as part of their regular reporting whether any conflict minerals required for the functionality of any of their products were sourced in the DRC or any adjoining country If a conflict mineral was used and was sourced in the DRC or adjoining country the company is required to prepare and submit to the SEC the following a report describing the measures taken by the reporting company to exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of the conflict mineral an independent audit of the above report a description of the products manufactured by the reporting company or manufactured for it by a contractor that are not DRC conflict free that is the products that do contain conflict minerals from the DRC or one of its immediate neighbours a description of the facilities used to process the conflict minerals 2012 BGR Hannover