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#ConflictMinerals: Agreement aims to break the vicious cycle between the trade in minerals and conflict

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160616ConflictMinerals3The EU has reached a political agreement on a regulation aimed at excluding ‘conflict minerals’ from the EU market. The extraction and trade of minerals has been linked to conflict and human rights abuses around the world, especially in the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The EU is a major destination for ‘conflict minerals’.

Conflict minerals refers to minerals and metals containing the so-called 3TG (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) elements that are used in everyday products, such as mobile phones, laptops,  cars and jewellery.

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the Council of the European Union, Lilianne Ploumen, said: "The EU is committed to preventing international trade in minerals from financing warlords, criminals and human-rights abusers."

The initiative builds on the OECD ‘Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Sourcing’. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said: "This political understanding on conflict minerals will help trade to work for peace and prosperity, in communities and areas around the globe affected by armed conflict."

The initiative has also been welcomed by the S&D spokesperson on conflict minerals, Marie Arena MEP, who pointed out that at  the beginning of the negotiation the Commission and the Council completely rejected the idea of any mandatory compliance. Arena said: “Only upon the pressure of the Parliament, led by S&D, did we make a breakthrough and now companies will be obliged to analyze the potential risk in the origin of the minerals they trade with.”

Arena went on to say that while the Parliament had succeeded in introducing mandatory due diligence and disclosure requirements for companies from the mine to the smelter, she would like to have seen further action further down the supply chain: "We wanted to go further, and we will. This agreement is not just a façade. We strongly insisted on a review clause in order to include companies manufacturing components and trading the final product (the so-called downstream). To begin with, the European Commission will set up a voluntary system for these companies but stronger legislation will be put in place if this voluntary system doesn't work. Our struggle continues, but a crucial step has been taken to break the vicious cycle."

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The vast majority of metals and minerals imported to the EU will be covered, while exempting small volume importers from these obligations.

NGO, Global Witness, welcomes what they consider to be a first step in the right direction, but say the regulation ultimately falls short of its intended objective and that EU policy makers have caved in to the demands of big business by exempting the vast majority of EU companies trading in minerals from the law.

Iverna McGowan, Head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said: “Today’s decision leaves companies that import minerals in their products entirely off the hook. It’s a half-hearted attempt to tackle the trade in conflict minerals which will only hold companies importing the raw materials to basic checks EU investors and consumers still won’t have any certainty that the companies they deal with are behaving responsibly.”

Maria van der Heide from ActionAid, said: “This law can only be a first step. It must be implemented swiftly so that it can soon be extended to companies that import these minerals as part of manufactured goods. Communities in conflict-affected and high risk areas will only be able to benefit from their resource wealth and be freed from the cycle of violence related to the trade in conflict minerals if companies along the entire supply chain follow responsible sourcing practices.”

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