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Conflict Minerals
The United States SEC requires all domestic publicly traded companies to release a statement that their products either do not contain conflict minerals, or they do contain those minerals but they do not fund the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) militia's that have been responsible for many deaths.
This appears to be an initiative driven by US regulations and European suppliers will quickly vet their sources to confirm that their conflict minerals do not support armed conflict.
Asia is a little different as they do not answer to or typically understand the SEC's new regulation. I use the term Asia broadly because some vendors are quite aware of the situation and have been proactive for a few years now to align with this.
My question is more of a 'what would you do' scenario. If a supplier refused to release a statement or ignored your repeated request (regardless of the reason), would you:
-Find a new supplier? This option could possibly entail qualifying a new vendor.
-Warn the supplier? Warnings don't carry any weight unless you're prepared to source from someone else.
-Report that your supplier would not make a statement and basically hope that you're not funding armed conflict?
Anyone have any experience or best practice knowledge with this scenario?