Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

COUNTRY

United States of America

CATEGORY

International Trade: Conflict Minerals Prohibition

LEGAL CODE TITLE

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

LEGAL CODE REFERENCE

PUBLIC LAW 111–203

REVISION DATE

July 21, 2010

LEGAL JURISDICTION

USA / International

LAW TYPE

Disclosure

APPLICABILITY

Companies publicly traded in the United States of America

LINK TO FULL TEXT OF LAW

https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ203/PLAW-111publ203.pdf

SUMMARY OR KEY PROVISION OF THE LAW

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), passed in 2010, directed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue regulations requiring companies that manufacture products to report on “conflict minerals” in corporate supply chains under Section 1502. Congress enacted Section 1502 because of concerns that the exploitation and trade of conflict minerals by armed groups helps finance conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) region and contributes to an emergency humanitarian crisis. The law requires reporting companies that submit SEC filings to disclose annually whether products they manufacture contain tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold (together considered “conflict minerals” under the provision) from the DRC or an adjoining country and, if so, whether the conflict minerals finance or benefit armed groups in the DRC region.

The SEC promulgated a rule requiring companies to determine whether they use such minerals and whether such minerals are necessary to the functionality or production of a product they manufactured or contracted to have manufactured. If so, the rule requires that companies conduct a good faith inquiry into the country of origin of the minerals, and make certain disclosures to the SEC. Under the rule, companies are also required to make available on their websites the information they disclosed to the SEC.
However, the requirement to disclose if products are DRC conflict free was held by a court to be a violation of the First Amendment. As a result, the SEC‘s Division of Corporation Finance suspended enforcement of this disclosure pending further decision by the SEC on this issue.
Presently, companies continue to file required forms with the SEC and conduct origin inquiries. (Source: US Department of Labor)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

https://www.sec.gov/spotlight/dodd-frank-act

https://www.dpc.senate.gov/pdf/wall_street_reform_summary.pdf

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/dodd-frank