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Article

29 Sep 2014

Author:
Jamila Trindle, Foreign Policy blog

Blog: Strength of EU rules under discussion; results of first US due diligence reports mixed

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Europe is pushing ahead with rules designed to make companies disclose whether they use minerals mined in conflict zones, but efforts already underway in the United States are having mixed results.This summer, U.S. companies started making public whether their products possibly contained minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Advocates of that law argue that trade in minerals from the DRC supports armed groups that terrorize, rape, and kill civilians... Proponents of the crackdown on so-called "conflict minerals" are ramping up criticism of that regulatory approach, which is set for debate in the European Parliament later this year. "The EU has proposed legislation it claims will tackle the problem, but the draft law only goes so far as to suggest companies voluntarily check and declare the source of their minerals," said Michael Gibb of Global Witness. "This legislation will not meaningfully reduce the trade in conflict minerals." Global Witness, Amnesty International, and more than 20 other organizations on Tuesday, Sept. 23, called on European leaders to make the rules binding and force more companies into the new regime...While the EU weighs how to proceed, U.S. companies are already learning more, and telling more, about their supply chains...[Refers to Intel]

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