Boehlerit Magazin 2016-EN

For the executive management of Boehlerit, an ethically sound procurement policy for materials and raw materials has been an essential element of compliance culture for many years. “Faced with the despicable developments in several regions of origin, the safeguarding of Human Rights is particularly important for us in the procurement of raw materials”, emphasises Managing Director Johann Werl. Ever since the mobile phone boom triggered off a price explo- sion for coltan around the year 2000, the illegal extraction and export of raw materials has been rife in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country already ravaged by decade-long wars and internal conflicts. In addition to coltan (tantalum), other raw materials that are affected by these developments include tin and gold as well as wolfram, which is required for the production of hard metals. “We condemn the inhuman working conditions and the fact that rebel groups finance their militia using money gained through illegal raw material trade”, says Werl: “For this reason, we are committed to purchasing and processing solely conflict-free raw materials. This is our contribution towards drying up the financial resources of the warlords in Congo.” For Werl, the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in the US in 2010, is an important international milestone in this battle, especially section 1502 of the Act. Act H.R. 4173 “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act”, DFA for short, redefined the financial market regulations for the US in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007. The Act comprises 15 titles, among them section 1502, “Conflict Minerals”, which obliges all companies listed on the US stock market to report to the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) on an annual basis whether they have used so-called conflict minerals for the manufacturing or functiona- lity of their products somewhere along the supply chain. Such conflict minerals include the raw materials mentioned earlier – tantalum, tin, wolfram and their derivatives – as well as gold, if any of these materials were sourced in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Southern Sudan, Uganda, Ruanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zam- bia or Angola. The goal is to provide evidence that shows that the raw materials used to manufacture a product do not contribute towards the financing of armed militia in these countries. “As a European company, we are not directly affected by this Act. However, we have decided to actively support its ultimate goals”, con- firms Werl. This also means that Boehlerit adheres to the Due Diligence Guidance of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Develop- ment (OECD) and supports the European Initiative on Conflict Minerals, which envisages a voluntary self-certification procedure for importers who bring these metals or their ores into the European Union. To support the companies who take part in the initiative, the EU plans to publish a list of responsible smelters and refineries within the EU and worldwide. To facilitate the exchange of information with regard to the country of origin and the processing smelters/refineries of the minerals along the supply chain, Boehlerit applies the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) of the Conflict Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI). The CFSI is an initiative of the EICC and GeSi. EICC stands for Electronic Industry Citi- zenship Coalition, an association of globally leading electrical suppliers, while GeSI stands for Global e-Sustainability Initiative and represents companies and organisations in the information and communications industry worldwide. The flagship project of the CFSI is the Conflict Free Smelter Program (CFS), where smelters using tin, gold, tantalum and wolfram can obtain the “conflict-free” certificate. To be certified conflict- free, an independent third-party institution will perform an analysis of materials and business processes to see whether the company can guarantee that all processed materials come from conflict-free sources. The result of the evaluation may be used by the companies to comply with their auditing requirements as stipulated by the OECD Guidance. A list of all smelters that have been certified conflict-free is published on a quarterly basis by EICC and GeSi. This makes Boehlerit a true pioneer among the globally leading manufacturers of hard-metal cutting materials for tools in the metal-, wood- and plastics-processing industry – not just in terms of technology, but also with regard to ethical awareness. Johann Werl Boehlerit produces hard metals solely from conflict-free raw materials uncompromising commitment 021 BOEHLERIT MAGAZINE

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