Partial political agreement on proposal relating to ‘conflict minerals’

Negotiators from the different institutions reached an agreement on core elements of a draft proposal which aims to tackle the financing of armed groups through trade in conflict minerals.

The draft text establishes that all but the smallest EU importers of tin, tungsten, tantalum, gold and their ores have to do 'due diligence' checks on their suppliers, and big manufacturers have to disclose how they plan to monitor their sources to comply with the rules.

The original proposal was published by the European Commission in March 2014. The Parliament adopted its position on the draft law in May 2015, triggering informal negotiations. According to media sources, these negotiations had stalled in early 2016.