Conflict minerals reporting may be a significant challenge for executives this spring as many companies are just in the early stages of compliance exercises as the May 31 SEC filing deadline approaches, according to a report released Wednesday.
The SEC's new conflict minerals rule grew out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, P.L. 111-203. Legislators eager to choke off funding for warlords in certain countries in Africa required public companies to track the gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten used in their products.SEC registrants are required to research whether their products include those minerals and, if they do, report whether the minerals originated in mines run by armed groups that have been involved in human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC and surrounding countries.Just 4% of 700 companies responding to a PwC survey in February said they had drafted their SEC filings. And 31% said they had significantly completed their due-diligence process and were beginning to draft their SEC filings.