Businesses resist 'conflict minerals' law

Businesses resist 'conflict minerals' law
Children wash copper on July 9 at an open-air mine in Kamatanda in the rich mining province of Katanga, southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
US manufacturers are mounting a lobbying campaign over a provision slipped into the financial reform legislation requiring companies to declare products containing minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Dodd-Frank act includes a clause which effectively classifies resources from Congo as "conflict minerals", mimicking previous campaigns which targeted so-called "blood diamonds" from countries with poor human rights records.

The mandatory disclosure follows public pressure to extend the curbs on diamonds to the trade in minerals that has helped to fuel conflict in the Congo. "This will affect almost every US manufacturing sector. It covers coltan and ultimately tin, which are used right across industry," said Rick Goss, a vice president at the Information Technology Industry Council.

Widespread use of minerals from the region in electronics products has triggered headlines attacking companies such as Apple and Microsoft for selling "genocide phones".

Under the new law, any US-listed company whose products require the affected minerals for their manufacture or "functionality" will have to report annually on whether the metals can be traced back to the Congo region. Manufacturers who cannot declare their products "conflict free" will have to produce an independently audited report on the steps taken to ascertain the source of the minerals.