Dodd-Frank mandates "Conflict Minerals" reporting

The Dodd-Frank Act has gotten a lot of attention, mostly for its sweeping new regulations affecting the financial industry. But buried in all those pages is also a small provision aimed at addressing the problem of conflict minerals originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Dodd-Frank requires companies under the jurisdiction of the SEC to report annually on whether they are using minerals from the DRC or its nine immediate neighbors. All companies must also report on the due diligence they have undertaken to verify their supply chain and avoid tainted metals. This reporting will especially affect chipmakers and other electronics firms who use ores such as tungsten, tantalum, gold and tin in their manufacturing processes. Major firms like Dell, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and others have been proactively managing their supply chains to meet this challenge. Read More...