Background:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the conflict mineral rules under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) on August 22, 2012. These rules require public companies that file reports with the SEC to annually disclose information about their use of specific minerals originating and financing armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”) or an adjoining country. The reporting requirement is going to be mandatory very soon, June 2nd, 2014 (technically deadline is May 31st 2014, which is a week-end).
Conflict minerals are Cassiterite (the metal ore from which Tin is extracted), Columbite-Tantalite (aka Coltan, the metal ore from which Tantalum is extracted), Gold, Wolframite (the metal ore from which Tungsten is extracted). In short „3 TGs”.
The rules will encompass many public companies, and pretty much all manufacturers in High Tech, because conflict minerals are used in many products, such as smartphones, cameras, computers, microchips, automobiles, tools and heavy machinery.
On April 30th, one day after the SEC provided additional guidance on conflict minerals reporting in a public statement, SAP released new capabilities to address the reporting requirements, with Wave 6 of the public cloud based SAP Product Stewardship Network.
Interested in more information? Closely watch the Product Compliance community, and if you happen to come to SAPPHIRE NOW and the ASUG National Conference June 3-5, there is lots of opportunities to get more details about the exciting new capabilities, and what other customers are doing around product compliance.
Here are a the most important of the sessions:
| Session ID | Title | Session Type | Day | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LB14335 | Establish a Strategy for Product Compliance | Microforum Discussion | Tue | 10:30-11:15am |
| LB14346 | Manage and Report the Use of Conflict Minerals to Comply with Regulations | Demo Theater | Tue | 11:00-11:20am |
| LB14425 | Optimize Sustainability Across Global Value Chains with Business Networks | Panel Discussion | Tue | 02:00-02:30pm |
| LB14346 | Manage and Report the Use of Conflict Minerals to Comply with Regulations (repeat) | Demo Theater | Wed | 08:30-08:50am |
| 2105 | How Kimberly-Clark Ensures SAP Supports its Next Generation of Product Compliance and Product Safety Processes | Education Session | Wed | 08:30-09:30am |
| LB14354 | Collaborate Online to Exchange Sustainability Data | Demo Theater | Wed | 04:30-04:50pm |
| LB14354 | Collaborate Online to Exchange Sustainability Data | Demo Theater | Thu | 02:00-02:20pm |
| 2112 | How Jabil Manages Product Compliance with SAP EHS Management | Education Session | Thu | 02:30-03:30pm |
| LB 14340 | Improve Product Innovation in a World of Shrinking Resources | Microforum Discussion | Thu | 03:00-03:45pm |
Looking forward to see you in Orlando!
Regards, Ulf.