Rick McDonald Quoted in Conflict Minerals Article in SupplyChainBrain

Discusses What Companies Should Do to Comply With SEC Rule

Press Mentions

6.04.13

Rick McDonald, who leads Dykema’s Securities practice, is extensively quoted in an article—“SEC’s New Rule on Conflict Minerals: Clarity and Confusion,” that appeared in the June 3, 2013 issue of SupplyChainBrain, an online resource for high-level executives in supply chain management.

The article outlines new disclosure requirements imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on manufacturers concerning products containing conflict minerals—chiefly, tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold—that originate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring states.

In the article, McDonald notes that companies need to take a few basic steps to comply with this rule, among them:

  • Determining whether the product they manufacture (either directly or via contract) contains any necessary conflict minerals; and, if so,
  • Conducting a “good faith, reasonable” country-of-origin inquiry; and,
  • Conducting due diligence on the source of the conflict minerals; then,
  • Filing with the SEC on a Form SD (Specialized Disclosure)

McDonald adds that while the conflict minerals rule pertains to public companies, private companies will be affected by it as well, “because many if not most have a public company somewhere up the supply chain.” Private companies will need to provide information to their direct or indirect public company customers concerning conflict minerals in private company products that are included in the public company products.

To read this article in its entirety, click here.

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