Why is there now a Conflict Minerals group?
On July 15, 2010 the US Congress passed the Wall Street reform bill that included a provision on conflict minerals. The language in the bill requires companies that use tin, tungsten, tantalum, or gold in their products or production of their product and report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to file an annual disclosure report with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing whether these materials originated in the Congo or its adjoining countries. The bill requires companies to audit these reports to assure whether they are sourcing from conflict mines or not.
Several OEMs are cascading an information letter through the supply chain making suppliers aware of this new requirement. In the letter they ask suppliers to:
Determine what components use conflict minerals or their derivatives.
Work with suppliers to map supply chains of those components.
Require suppliers to identify smelters used or verify that the origin of conflict minerals is scrap or recycled material.
In order to facilitate the first step, we have introduced the Conflict Minerals group that can be used for analysis.
CONFLICT MINERAL – The term ‘‘conflict mineral’’ means:
(A) columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite, gold, wolframite, or their derivatives; or
(B) any other mineral or its derivatives determined by the Secretary of State to be financing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country.
In other words, it is not just where the mineral comes from that makes it a conflict mineral.
Are the substances in the Conflict Minerals group a complete list of substances I need to be concerned about?
No. The substances in this IMDS group are substances that are found in the IMDS Basic Substance list. These substances are commonly found in hard parts. There are many other compounds that are used in manufacturing (necessary to the production of the part) that are not found in final parts.
How can I use the Conflict Minerals group?
To examine the structure of an individual MDS, you may use the pull down and conflict minerals will be highlighted in the tree similar to GADSL substances or Process Chemicals. You may also use this group in Analysis > Certificate of Expenditure > Basic Substance List to determine which parts contain Conflict Minerals so you can determine which suppliers you may need further information from.
For the legislation, do I only need to look at my parts and materials in IMDS?
No. The legislation (New Section 13(p)) requires reporting annually whether Conflict Minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of a product originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or an adjoining country (such countries are referred to in this memorandum as the DRC Countries).
While the final guidelines from the SEC are not published at this time, we are expecting that this means all tooling, catalysts, etc., are also included in the reporting requirement. Only parts on a vehicle as sold are reported in IMDS.
After I find my parts and suppliers, what do I have to do next?
That is really up to you and your customer requirements. Some of your customers may require a formal report asking for information on the source of the Conflict Minerals. Communications with your suppliers on this topic will need to be done outside of IMDS. IMDS is only a starting point on this journey.
If your company reports to the US SEC, you may be asked to contribute to such a report.
What do I do if I use IMDS Committee materials with these substances in them?
As it says in Recommendation 001, that even if you use IMDS Committee materials, you are required to collect information to ensure that the IMDS Committee material is representative of the material being used. You will need to use that information to contact your suppliers for information if it is required.
以前のバイオサイド指令(DIRECTIVE 98/8/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market) に従って、活性物質がいわゆる22種類の製品•タイプに割り当てられています。生産者は、その化学物質と用途を申告しなければなりません。
The continuous evaluation of the REACH Candidate List (at least 2 updates per year) is automatically triggering the process to update the Global Automotive Declarable Substance List (GADSL). Thus, to support REACH compliance the list also contains vehicle related substances newly placed on the REACH Candidate List for authorisation.
All new changes in GADSL are highlighted under www.gadsl.org.
REACH Article 33 is requiring manufacturers of articles to automatically inform their customers on substances listed on the candidate list if this substance is contained in the article in an amount > 0.1% w/w. Ignoring this legal obligation may cause penalties by the national authorities.
To fulfil these legal obligations, suppliers can use the IMDS system but have to follow the IMDS-Recommendations, especially of IMDS Rec. 001:
It is prohibited to hide GADSL-substances in wildcards
After a GADSL-update, ALL active MDS have to be checked for ALL new GADSL-substances, potentially hidden in a wildcard.
If new GADSL substances are hidden in wildcards, the supplier has to re-work and re-submit the affected MDS to his customer immediately.
For Renault suppliers: In case of an update of the Renault list you have to follow the same rules.
To avoid such checks and re-submission in the future, the IMDS Steering Committee recommends to avoid the usage of any wildcard and instead, without losing your company knowledge, to use the “confidential substance”-functionality.
Having the IMDS, the automotive Industry is considered to be in an advantageous position compared to other sectors and able to comply with several REACH obligations immediately e.g. Art. 33.1 communication without developing new tools or processes.
The Automotive Industry Guideline on REACH includes the recommendation that the IMDS should be used to collect information about substances of very high concern in articles. Minor modifications to the system have been implemented to optimise this process:
IMDS provides an additional REACH contact field, on company and not material data sheet level, to support better REACH communication throughout the supply chain. Please note that use of this function will not replace your obligation to provide the contact information by the direct customer-specific communication requirements.
Candidate List substance flagging & filter.
Authorisation List (REACH Annex XIV) substance flagging & filter.
Analysis of products for automotive industry relevant substances from REACH Annex XVII.
Analysis of material data sheets for SVHCs.
It is important to remember that in order to ensure compliance to the REACH Regulation, material data sheets may need to be re-submitted for each active part number to include any candidate list substance that has been added to the GADSL. This specifically applies to substances that up till now were hidden by a wild card or considered confidential.
