by Cydney Posner
The Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) has now made available a new version of the conflict minerals reporting template (CMRT) that has become the standard tool for gathering information from suppliers on conflict minerals The new template can be downloaded for free. The template is designed to help manufacturers collect supply chain data regarding country of origin of conflict minerals as well as smelters and refiners used to process the minerals. The template also identifies refiners and smelters that have been designated as “conflict free” under CFSI’s Conflict-Free Smelter Program. The updates in the new version reflect primarily numerous changes to the standard smelter list. As reported by Compliance Week, some “smelters were previously identified at a ‘corporate’ or ‘group’ level, although one entry may have represented multiple individual facilities. With version 3.02, these higher level entities are eliminated, and replaced with each unique facility. The new facility-level listing is intended to help companies correctly identify specific facilities that process the minerals contained in their products.” The article reports that “CFSI recommends that companies use CMRT 3.00 version and higher for the collection of 2014 supply chain data, as well as the 3.02 version of the Standard Smelter List, for filings with the SEC in 2015.”
