Intel, Motorola Solutions, Hewlett Packard and Apple are pioneering progress toward wiping out the use of conflict minerals - like tantalum, tin and tungsten - in their products, but other companies are lagging, according to a report by a nonprofit rights group.
The Enough Project - an arm of the Center for American Progress that combats crimes against humanity - placed Nintendo at the bottom of its conflict minerals ranking and also singled out HTC, Sharp, Nikon and Canon for a lack of progress.
“Nintendo has made no known effort to trace or audit its supply chain,” the “Taking conflict out of consumer gadgets” report said. “Sharp, HTC, Nikon and Canon are taking initial steps to join industry efforts, but their progress remains far behind industry leaders.”
Nikon declined to comment on the report. Sharp, HTC, Canon and Nintendo were not immediately available for comment.
The Enough Project scored companies on efforts to trace the source of the minerals and metals used, whether detailed audits of supply chains were being carried out, and if steps are being taken to develop an international conflict-free certification.
Other criteria included environmental rankings and whether support had been expressed for legislation on conflict minerals.
Intel, Motorola Solutions, HP and Apple “have moved forward to develop solutions despite delays in the legislative rule-making process by the US Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC - an excuse that many other companies have used to explain their lack of significant action,” the report said.
Delayed guidelines
The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law requires companies to disclose whether they use tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is due to vote on August 22 on long-delayed guidelines needed to enforce the conflict minerals law.
War-torn DRC sits on large reserves of minerals used in electronics production and the Enough Project has warned that months of unrest in Congo’s volatile east is hampering progress made in curbing the conflict minerals trade.
—Reuters
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