Apple, Intel And Source Intelligence Commited To Conflict-Free Mineral Sourcing
February 14, 2014. Cupertino, CA. based Apple Inc. added momentum to the rapidly changing landscape of ethical sourcing in manufacturing. The company announced that its suppliers of tantalum have been verified as “conflict free”. In their 2014 Supplier Responsibility Report, Apple boldly makes public the names of suppliers who have not agreed to be audited for verification.
Tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (3TG), key metals used in the manufacturing of electronic components, and have been referred to as the “blood diamonds” of manufacturing as they are linked to sources that use the proceeds from minerals sold to fund militia in conflicted parts of Africa.
Public declarations from highly visible brands like Intel and Apple are a wake-up call for manufactures across all industries, not just electronics,” commented Jess Kraus, CEO and Co-Founder of Source Intelligence. “Conflict-free and ethical sourcing is here to stay and we’ve built our technology platform to service a range of supply chain and restricted materials programs.
Over the last two years, Source Intelligence has become the leading conflict minerals program provider, entrusted by hundreds of Fortune 500 Companies and their suppliers to help them comply with the law, retain loyal consumers and stay on the ‘approved supplier list’.
The trend is explosive. In the first six weeks of 2014, Source Intelligence received over 2000 inbound inquiries for demonstrations, white papers and educational webinars. On January 21, 2014 Source Intelligence announced that it was selected to support 7 global industry associations and their collective 15,000 member companies through a conflict minerals resource center.
Section 1502 of the SEC’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires publicly-held companies to disclose whether their products contain conflict minerals as defined by the law: tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold (3TG) originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and specific adjoining countries. The first report, covering calendar year 2013, is due to the SEC by May 31, 2014. The SEC and Government Accountability Office estimate that approximately 6,000 issuers and 280,000 non-issuer companies will be directly or indirectly impacted by the rule.
Conflict Minerals Working Group members are invited to join a cross-industry, conflict minerals compliance benchmarking webinar.
About Source Intelligence® ( www.sourceintelligence.com)
Source Intelligence® is an information knowledge company that helps customers make informed decisions about business partners to offer products that meet legal, ethical, and environmental standards. Our cloud-based information and analytics platform provides customers with visibility into product supply chains and material sources in order to comply with the law, minimize operational and brand risk, and improve efficiency.
As a leading provider of conflict minerals compliance programs, Source Intelligence protects customers’ interests with private industry’s largest network of suppliers, a platform to manage and connect business partners, and a portfolio of compliance programs for all regulated materials. Founded in 2009 by career experts in environmental solutions, management consulting and analytics, Source Intelligence® has headquarters in Carlsbad, California and operations around the world.
Source Intelligence® Contact:
Lina Ramos, Chief Business Officer
