Fastener Suppliers Face Conflict Minerals Scrutiny
FEATURES
By now most U.S. business owners have heard of the federal Conflict Minerals Regulations.
Mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the law requires companies to publicly disclose their use of conflict minerals that originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or an adjoining country.
Mined in areas of armed conflict and human rights abuses – especially in Africa’s eastern Congo provinces, conflict minerals are tin (cassiterite), tungsten (wolframite) and tantalum (coltan) – dubbed the 3T’s or the 3TGs including gold.
Primarily the law affects publicly-traded U.S. companies. But starting in 2015, the law will place more emphasis on suppliers to those public companies, according to Lawrence Heim, consultant with the Elm Consulting Group International.
In a Pacific-West Fastener Association session at the National Industrial Fastener and Mill Supply Expo in Las Vegas, Heim told attendees that the SEC regulations involve a confluence of human rights, natural resources and business practices.
“This is the first time anything like this has been turned into law,” he stated.
But the the SEC has issued “very little guidance” on compliance for the “disclosure-based” law, which has led to uncertainty.
“Your customers are struggling with this ambiguity,” Heim told his audience.
FIN Subscribers can click here for the full story.
Related Stories:
• Atlantic Fasteners Relocating in Massachusetts
Related Links:
There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?
Write a comment