The Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to issue a final rule this year requiring "any issuer for which conflict minerals are necessary to the functionality of a product manufactured, or contracted to be manufactured by that issuer, to disclose in the body of its annual report whether its conflict minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country." Conflict minerals used in HSM Wire products are tin and gold plating on wire, pure gold wire and tungsten wire.
As currently proposed the regulation would further require the issuer to:
1.Furnish a separate report within their annual report that includes a description of the measures taken to exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of its conflict minerals.
2.Commission a private sector audit of the conflict minerals report conducted in accordance with standards established by the Comptroller General of the United States.
3.Certify the private sector audit of its report and make reports available to the public on the issuer's internet website.
HSM Wire's Responsibilities and Actions Taken
HSM recognizes that many of our customers will be part of supply chains connected to issuers impacted by this rule when it is finalized. In fact, HSM has already received a number of Conflict Minerals questionnaires and certification requests and in turn have contacted our direct suppliers of tin, gold and tungsten. All responded that they do not use conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country.
Some customers have requested 'due diligence' to determine compliance with the proposed regulation by our direct suppliers and beyond [to our supplier's supplier and so on]. Though we do our utmost to assist customers with their compliance issues on many fronts, HSM Wire cannot perform due diligence or certify compliance to the conflict minerals rule, in whatever form it will finally take, beyond what we have already done as described above.
HSM will continue to monitor the conflict minerals rulemaking process as well as our suppliers of conflict minerals to support our customers’ compliance concerns in a practical and constructive manner.