Conflict minerals: EU Parliament rejects draft law

Yesterday, the EU Parliament in Strasbourg rejected a draft law on conflict minerals. The Members of Parliament considered the proposed regulations, which were based on approach to self-certification, as not sufficiently far-reaching. They called for a mandatory certification for all companies importing so-called conflict minerals as tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold into the EU. Additionally, the downstream industry branches shall meet specific information requirements, in order to identify and tackle risks in the supply chain. About 880 000 producers of consumer goods that use conflict minerals in their manufacturing process might be affected. With their requirements the Members of Parliament follow the example of the Dodd-Frank Act which is in force since 2010 in the US. In the next step, the EU Parliament will enter into negotiations with the Council in order to conclude a final version of the law