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Huizenga Amendment on Conflict Minerals Approved by the U.S. House of Representatives
September 18, 2017 | IPCEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The U.S. House of Representatives today adopted an amendment by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) that would prohibit the use of funds for any action on rules issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to conflict minerals.
The amendment was attached to the omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal 2018 that is currently making its way through the legislative process. The overall bill was then passed by the House and forwarded to the Senate for consideration.
Although IPC members are deeply concerned by the human rights abuses that are occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the conflict minerals requirements of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law have had questionable success in addressing the situation, while imposing significant costs on industry and consumers. We believe that requirements for U.S. companies to report on the source of conflict minerals in their supply chains is a red herring that fails to address the underlying problems of failed government and lack of security in the DRC.
IPC continues to highlight the burden of conflict minerals compliance, most recently in meetings with members of the House and Senate during the IPC IMPACT advocacy event in Washington, D.C. in May.
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