(Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1502 and the pursuant SEC rule), and EU policy proposed, the pressure on the supply chain is increasing. Non-compliance is always a significant issue for business, but conflict minerals carry a highly emotive political and ethical payload.
It is estimated that over five million people have died in the violence engulfing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1998 – the most major war since World War 2. For a company to have its products implicated with the use of illegally sourced tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold (3TGs), the proceeds of which may be used to fund illegal groups, is no small matter.
One reaction has been for companies to turn their backs on the DRC region to ensure they do not get their hands dirty, but in doing so this has devastated communities who rely on subsistence mining to survive. The European Union is well aware of this and is seeking to minimize such an effect arising from in its own policy response.
