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White House Considers Suspension of Conflict Minerals Rule

By Randi Morrison posted 02-09-2017 01:32 PM

  
Further to our report in yesterday's Society Alert, attached - courtesy of the WSJ - is a draft Presidential Memorandum discussing the unintended consequences of the SEC's conflict minerals rule and directing the SEC to waive the rule's requirements for two years or such earlier time as the SEC proposes an alternative rule that the President determines is not contrary to the US national security interests.

The draft SEC directive accompanying the Presidential Memorandum indicates that the disclosure regime "was originally intended to address a humanitarian crisis in the region by limiting a means of financing the ongoing conflict. Mounting evidence shows that the disclosure requirements contained in the Conflict Minerals Rule have instead caused harm to some parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and have thereby contributed to instability in the region and threatened the national security interest of the United States."

See also our prior report on SEC Acting Chair Piwowar's call for comments and reconsideration of the rule's implementation and guidance.
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