Conflict Mineral Law

1,001 Issuers' Compliance with the Letter and Spirit of the Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Rule

Legal Research Brief by Georgetown Law Center Global Law Scholars, Class of 2016

"We wanted to determine which factors contribute to a company's compliance with the Conflict Mineral Rule. We therefore read every Conflict Mineral Report for 2013 and looked for correlations with a host of variables, including size, profitability, revenue, industry, geography, socially responsible investment, and partnership with NGOs. We believe this is the most comprehensive analysis of conflict mineral disclosures to date."
-Collmann Griffin

The Global Law Scholars of the Georgetown University Law Center read the disclosures of all 1,001 companies that filed a Conflict Minerals Report with the SEC for 2013 and assigned each company two scores:

The first score focused on the whether companies followed the “letter of the law” – whether companies complied with the specific requirements for disclosure and due diligence set forth in the Rule.
The second score focused on whether companies followed the “spirit of the law” – whether companies disclosed the information that was not required by the law but which advocates hoped would help establish a conflict-free supply chain.

1,001 Issuers' Compliance with the Letter and Spirit of the Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals Rule
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Supporting Data
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S.1682, An Act Relative to Congo Conflict Minerals

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"...companies that create and sell products that include such metals have the ability to influence the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo by...ensuring that their suppliers provide raw materials in a manner that does not directly finance armed conflict..."
-Excerpt from Bill SD367

Read S.1682 An Act Relative to Congo Conflict Minerals

Several states have adopted legislation that reinforces Dodd-Frank, Section 1502. The call for their governments to prohibit the state and state agencies to contract with companies who do not comply with Section 1502. In other words, if companies do not keep track of the columbite-tantalite, cassiterite, wolframite, and gold in their supply chains, they will not be able to contract with the state.

The text of Bill SD367 (text currently available in previously filed House version) is very clear and it summarizes both the current situation in the DRC and the best first steps we can take to reduce our accountability.

Dodd-Frank Section 1502, U.S.A. Legislation

Learn about United States conflict mineral legislation

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (see Section 1502)
Security and Exchange Commission description
OECD (corporate) due diligence guidelines for responsible mineral sourcing from conflict areas and Dodd-Frank compliance.

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Dodd-Frank and Long Distance Accountability

(Photo: Free The Slaves Blog)

After the amendment that added Section 1502 to the Dodd-Frank act, JDSupra writers have produced a series of articles explaining the "long distance accountability" of the U.S. for the atrocities occurring in the DRC. JDSupra writers produce articles explaining the companies new responsibilities to the SEC.

For a collection of articles on Dodd-Frank and conflict minerals by JDSupra, read on here!

Laws within Great Lakes Region (GLR) of Africa

International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)

Regional Mineral Certification Program (yet to be fully implemented due to lack of action of state leaders) Manual
Briefing note regarding Regional Certification Mechanism (RCM)
Partnership Africa Canada's description of RCM

(Photo: Aljazeera)

European union and conflict minerals (CM)

(Photo: AFP)

Information and analysis of EU's CM guidelines

EU strategy on CM trade from the Great Lakes Region of Africa
Anna Bulzomi of IPIS Research questions the effectiveness EU guidelines