Leading House Financial Services Dems Push SEC to Enforce 'Due Diligence' Portion of Conflict Minerals Rule
House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and House Financial Services Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee ranking member Gwen Moore, D-Wis., urged the Securities and Exchange Commission Aug. 28 to reverse an April decision to defer enforcement of…
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its conflict minerals reporting requirement (see 1704100023). In a letter to SEC Chairman Walter Clayton released Aug. 29, the congresswomen pressed the SEC to immediately announce it will enforce Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act, which mandated the reporting. Waters and Moore accused then-Acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar of misinterpreting the court’s decision. They argued it is inappropriate for the SEC to use the court’s decision as a basis for their “position of non-enforcement of the due diligence reporting requirement.” The lawmakers added that the court’s final judgment held only that the SEC couldn’t enforce the rule’s requirement for companies to disclose to the SEC and report on their website a descriptor that products have “not been found to be ‘DRC conflict free,’” and that such subject companies should still be required to follow other requirements of Form SD 1.01(c). In addition to the descriptor requirement, that section of the form requires companies to conduct due diligence on a mineral’s source and chain of custody, get an audit of the due diligence, and include a Conflict Minerals Report as an exhibit to those forms. The SEC didn’t comment.