EU Conflict Minerals - What Have We Learned?

Trialogue negotiations for the EU conflict minerals regulation continued on May 11th. Members of the EU Council, EU Commission and the EU Parliament met in Strasbourg, France to further discuss the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation. While the three parties continued to negotiate over mandatory vs. voluntary reporting, the Dutch presidency highlighted their proposed system for a dynamic reporting scheme as a resolution to this disagreement.

The Dutch initiative known as the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) is a multi-stakeholder partnership approach that would facilitate a platform for cooperation between EU governments, third party compliance firms, and civil societies. As the EU Council presidency moves from the Dutch in July, advocates will be looking to see a strong push for the PPP in the coming month of June.

Last week’s continued negotiations did yield one very productive outcome - EU negotiators will recognize the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standards for conflict minerals reporting schemes. It is imperative for companies that do business in the EU to begin understanding the magnitude of the pending legislation. A comprehensive regulation will have the ability to put 880,000 companies in-scope of the reporting requirements. However, it is important to remember that there are resources available for in-scope companies to develop their supply chain transparency programs. To learn more about best practices towards developing your program, click here.