US restricts use of conflict minerals

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27 October 2010 News Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is drafting new reporting requirements on the use of so-called ‘conflict minerals’. According to Mikel Williams, chairman of the IPC Government Relations Committee and president and CEO of DDi Corp: “These new reporting requirements could have a significant impact on the entire electronics industry supply chain, much like the lead-free requirements of RoHS.”

Within the ‘Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’, signed into law by US president Barack Obama on 21 July this year, are new requirements for manufacturers of products containing tin, tantalum, gold, tungsten or any other conflict metals. Specifically, section 1502 of the new law imposes direct SEC reporting requirements on any publicly traded US companies whose products contain metals derived from conflict minerals. Conflict minerals are mined in areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which provide revenue to groups committing violence in the DRC. Companies will be required to submit a due diligence plan with their annual SEC report.

“If the electronics industry thinks that the SEC regulations will only impact publicly traded companies, they need to think again,” said Williams. The regulations, Williams explained, will flow down from the publicly traded companies through the entire supply chain from the OEMs to the solder manufacturers and everyone in between. Ultimately, while this is targeted to reporting, it will undoubtedly impact the selection of suppliers throughout the supply chain, as public companies will now be responsible for detailed knowledge about the location of source materials affected by the new regulations. Today, companies have no mechanism through which to comply with this requirement.

“These are serious requirements with significant repercussions,” said Fern Abrams, IPC director of government relations and environmental policy. She explained that the association is gathering comments from industry leadership to submit to the SEC. In addition, IPC is working to modify the IPC-1752A ‘Materials Declaration Management’ standard to address the supply chain’s need to exchange data on metals derived from conflict minerals.

For more information visit www.ipc.org

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US restricts use of conflict minerals

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