Survey Says Companies Not Meeting Minerals Rule
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Version 0 of 1. WASHINGTON — Nearly 80 percent of companies surveyed by two human rights groups failed to meet a United States rule requiring them to monitor whether their products contain minerals from war-torn Africa. The joint report by Amnesty International and Global Witness is the first by outside groups to analyze so-called conflict mineral disclosures by public companies complying with the Securities and Exchange Commission rule. “The conflict minerals law is an opportunity to clean up global mineral supply chains. But our analysis shows that most companies seem to prefer business-as-usual,” Carly Oboth, assistant policy adviser at Global Witness, said in a statement. The survey of 100 companies found that 79 percent of them failed to meet minimum requirements, and 41 percent did not show they had policies to identify risks in their supply chain. The report did not identify which companies fell short, but gave credit to those it said did meet the standards, among them 3M, Tiffany & Company, General Electric, Tesla Motors and Hewlett-Packard. The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul required manufacturers to determine whether any gold, tin, tungsten or tantalum, a metal used in electronics, in their products came from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The region is known for using the proceeds of mining to finance groups of rebels who kill and rape civilians. The rule took effect in 2014 after a United States appeals court upheld most of its provisions after a legal challenge by the Chamber of Commerce and other trade groups. To comply, companies must conduct a country-of-origin inquiry, file a public report for investors and carry out due diligence of their supply chains. |