EU agrees outline deal to curb flow in conflict minerals
Conflict minerals - Image Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com
(BRUSSELS) - The EU agreed Thursday on a framework to stop the financing of armed groups through trade in conflict minerals, following negotiations between the EU Council, Commission and Parliament.
The outline deal aims for EU companies to source tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold - minerals typically used in everyday products such as mobile phones, cars and jewellery - responsibly.
Under the plan, all but the smallest EU firms importing tin, tungsten, tantalum, gold and their ores will have to do "due diligence" checks on their suppliers.
Due diligence will also be mandatory for smelters and refiners. The Commission will press big manufacturers to disclose details of products that might contain conflict minerals.
For the Dutch EU presidency, Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen said: "The EU is committed to preventing international trade in minerals from financing warlords, criminals and the human rights abusers."
"We need to end the suffering of people being forced to mine precious metals and do our utmost to prevent violent conflicts," said the Parliament's Trade Committee Chair Bernd Lange MEP.
The agreed framework carries clear obligations for the critical 'upstream' part of the conflict minerals supply chain, including smelters and refiners, to source responsibly. The vast majority of metals and minerals imported to the EU will be covered, while exempting small volume importers from these obligations.
In addition, the Commission will carry out a number of other measures - including the development of reporting tools - to further boost supply chain 'due diligence' by large and smaller EU 'downstream' companies, i.e. those companies that use these metals and minerals as components in goods.
The technical details of the legislation agreed in principle now will need to be worked out.
Definitions
Due diligence: as defined by international OECD due diligence guidelines to help companies respect human rights and avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral purchasing decisions and practices. Currently they have the status of recommendations. The recognition of existing and future industry due diligence schemes became a central element of the regulation. Conditions for recognition of such schemes should be robust and aligned with the OECD guidelines.
Conflict minerals – Tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold are used in the production of many high-tech devices, in the automotive, electronics, aerospace, packaging, construction, lighting, industrial machinery and tooling industries, as well as in jewelry.
Conflict-affected and high-risk areas – The regulation applies to all conflict-affected and high risk areas in the world, of which the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes area are the most obvious example. According to the political understanding, the Commission will select experts via a tender procedure to draw up an indicative and non-exhaustive list of areas and other due diligence issues to be addressed in a "Handbook for the operators" to be developed by the EU Commission. Companies sourcing from areas that are not on the list will nonetheless be responsible for doing due diligence checks on sources.
Further information, European Parliament