Conflict Minerals: EU Conflict Minerals Regulation: EU about to Weaken the Upcoming Regulation, Say NGOs

Nov 10, 2016 | European Network for Central Africa
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The European Network for Central Africa (EurAc) calls on representatives of European Union (EU) Member States and of the European Parliament participating in the trilogue to revisit their copy on the establishment of the ‘White List’ of smelters and refiners certified as ‘responsible’ and on the definition of exemption thresholds for ‘small’ volumes of minerals and metals of tin, tantalum and tungsten (commonly called the ‘3Ts’) and gold imported into the EU. Indeed, these two mechanisms, as discussed in the trilogue, introduce additional loopholes into the upcoming Regulation which aims to combat the financing of armed groups and human right violations through the mineral trade in conflict-affected and high-risk areas, such as the DRC. EurAc also regrets the decision taken in June 2016 to produce an indicative list of conflict-affected and high-risk areas; such a list would have a negative effect on the efforts expected from companies and will once again stigmatize the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).