In less than 7 months, the EU conflict minerals regulation will take full effect, and importers into the European Union of certain threshold amounts of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (3TG) and of metals containing 3TG will be subject to it.  As of today, despite Brexit, importers into the UK will be subject to it as well. Those Union importers should be taking action now to supplement their compliance programs to address the due diligence,…

We have been following this year’s conflict minerals filings to determine whether reporting companies have highlighted any impact of the COVID-19 shut-downs on their conflict minerals due diligence measures or results. Based on our review of the 320 filings through May 27, 2020, 14 conflict minerals reports included references to “COVID-19,” “coronavirus” and/or the “pandemic. Four more reports mentioned “COVID-19” or “coronavirus” in their forward looking statements disclaimers. One report included a reference to the…

As we discussed in a previous post, early in 2019, some companies were expressing concern that, because of the impacts of the shut-downs associated with COVID-19, certain of their suppliers might not be able to provide responses to their conflict minerals inquiries in a timely manner.  They worried that their conflict minerals disclosures for calendar year 2019 could be less robust as a result. As of May 13, 2020, based on our review, none of…

You will recall that on March 25, 2020, to address certain challenges created by COVID-19, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the Order that extended the filing periods for certain public company reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act.  The relief granted by the Order applied to specific Securities Exchange Act reporting requirements.  However, Section 13(p) of the Securities Exchange Act, which requires the filing of conflict minerals disclosures on Form SD, was not…

As of March 26, 2020, the filing deadline for Form SD’s is unchanged from the May 31 deadline included in the text of the Conflict Minerals Rule (and in the instructions to the Form SD).  Note: because May 31, 2020 is a Sunday, the filing deadline for the Form SD’s for reporting year 2019 is Monday, June 1, 2020. To address certain challenges created by COVID-19, on March 25, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission…