Just weeks remain before companies registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must disclose whether they are receiving tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and, if so, whether they are getting those minerals from conflict-free sources.
Specifically, Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act mandates that companies file a new Form SD — and in some cases a Conflict Minerals Report — by May 31.
However, based on 700 responses from “relevant stakeholders” representing 15 industries and varying in size from revenue of less than $1 billion to over $20 billion, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) believes that many of the companies are not ready to do so.
Indeed, states a report from the firm, released last week, “companies continue to find the journey to compliance challenging at nearly every step: scoping, surveying suppliers, performing due diligence, drafting filings.” That means a significant number of them “will need to rush to comply with the regulations required by Dodd-Frank Section 1502.”
