Conflict Minerals Reporting Requirements
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The New SEC Conflict Minerals Rule: Overcoming the Challenges of Compliance
We have been talking about conflict minerals for years. And, so have our manufacturing clients. As covered previously in this blog, the conflict minerals laws and regulations are some of the most well known, but least...more
The conflict minerals case was remanded to the United Stated District Court for the District of Columbia for further proceedings. Judge Jackson has ordered the parties to file a joint status report, on or before March 10,...more
Last month, I gave a presentation to manufacturers and distributors throughout the United States on Conflict Minerals Laws. The program was sponsored by the United States Department of Commerce. These laws attempt to curb...more
Apple has filed its Form SD for the year ended December 31, 2015. It includes this disclosure: The combination of training, public reporting and a ticking clock drove the number from 82 smelters and refiners...more
On Friday, the SEC and Amnesty International each filed petitions seeking a rehearing en banc of the August 2015 panel opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding the conflict minerals...more
As noted in this Law 360 article and in this thecorporatecounsel.net blog , on Friday, the SEC filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in connection with Oxfam...more
On August 18, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in likely the first majority opinion citing Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities) and George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four), re-affirmed its...more
Earlier, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the appellants in the conflict minerals case, NAM et al, to file a response to the SEC’s and Amnesty International’s petition for an en...more
The fourth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act has prompted renewed discussion over the effectiveness of the legislation. Legislators continue their debate over the Financial Stability Oversight Committee and the Volcker Rule....more
If your company manufactures consumer electronics, avionics, or any product incorporating even trace amounts of gold, coltan, cassiterite, or wolframite— including their derivatives, tantalum, tin, and tungsten—you may need...more
Court denies emergency motion for a stay. By order issued on May 14, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the appellants’ emergency motion for a stay of the Securities and Exchange...more
As you sit at your desk waiting for any guidance regarding what your Conflict Minerals Report should look like, you may allow yourself to think about June 3, 2014, the day after companies are required to file their Form SD...more
The second Form SD and related conflicts minerals report has been filed. They are interesting documents but may still not be the holy grail of precedents because of, among other things, the use of terms like “Conflict Free...more
I hope NAM et al are successful in their motion for a stay of the conflict minerals rules, but it certainly isn’t a slam dunk. The SEC has filed its response to the motion for emergency stay. ...more
On April 29, Keith Higgins, the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, issued a public statement offering guidance on companies’ compliance with the conflict minerals rule in...more
On May 2, 2014, the SEC issued an order partially staying its Conflict Minerals Rule. Essentially, the order reiterates the SEC’s April 29, 2014, guidance that the Commission will not require companies subject to the conflict...more
The SEC has denied NAM’s motion for a full stay of the conflict minerals rules. As I indicated, it was somewhat of a hail Mary, but maybe a precondition to asking the court for relief. ...more
The SEC issued guidance on its interpretation of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s recent decision that certain portions of the SEC’s conflict minerals reporting requirements violate the First Amendment...more
When Commissioners Daniel M. Gallagher and Michael S. Piwowar released this Joint Statement on the Conflict Minerals Decision on April 28, 2014, I wondered where it would go. ...more
On April 14, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in National Association of Manufacturers v. SEC, a case that sought to challenge the conflict minerals rule released by the Securities and Exchange Commission...more
The SEC largely prevailed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a suit changing the Rules promulgated by the agency under Dodd-Frank regarding conflict minerals. National Association of Manufacturers v. SEC, No.. 13-5252...more
Industry groups are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reverse a July 23 district court decision (28 CCW 233, 7/31/13) and invalidate a rule issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that...more
FAQs address issues pertaining to the scope and application of the conflict minerals reporting requirement. On May 30, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued interpretive guidance on the...more
On August 22, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a controversial and far-reaching rule laying out the obligations that publicly traded companies must meet under the "Conflict Minerals" provisions of the...more