Global Witness welcomes the long-overdue vote on implementation rules for Sections 1502 and 1504 of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The rules were originally scheduled to be voted on 16 months ago. However, industry groups...have aggressively lobbied the SEC to delay and water them down...Global Witness...will publish an in-depth analysis shortly. Regarding Section 1502, we are extremely disappointed that the rule will allow companies to describe the origin of their minerals as ‘undeterminable’ for a period of two years – or four years for small companies...On a more positive note, SEC staff made clear in today’s meeting that the OECD five-step due diligence framework is the benchmark against which companies’ due diligence should be measured...