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Press Release: The new year is likely to be a most significant one in terms of the regulation of minerals from areas of conflict in Africa, including gold. It involves legislation coming into effect in 2014 that will influence the businesses of thousands of jewelers directly or indirectly supplying the U.S. market and pending legislation that may affect companies importing or supplying jewelry in the European Union (EU) countries. The impact of these processes will be the subject of a critically important seminar that will take place on Monday, January 20, during the VICENZAORO Winter show in Vicenza. Entitled "Conflict mineral legislation in Europe and the United States: How it impacts on both the domestic and export jewelry business," the seminar is being organized by Fiera di Vicenza, the Responsible Jewellery Council, CIBJO-the World Jewellery Confederation and Confindustria Federorafi. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Palladio Room at Fiera di Vicenza. The host of the event, Fiera di Vicenza, was accredited in March 2013, through CIBJO, to plan and implement a United Nations-endorsed corporate social responsibility program for the international jewelry industry. According to the conflict mineral rules contained in Section 1502 of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act, publicly traded companies, including major jewelry retailers, will for the first time, in 2014, have to file a report with the Security Exchange Commission, tracing their supply chain. Using a nationally or internationally recognized due diligence standard, companies will need to determine whether their supply chain includes gold sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries. Another legislative proposal on conflict minerals is being developed in the EU and is being led by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade. It is expected to build on existing efforts and guidelines like the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and the U.S. conflict minerals legislation. It is forecast that a formal regulatory proposal will be brought for consideration before the college of EU commissioners early in 2014. The seminar in Vicenza will include a blue-ribbon panel that will be presented by Corrado Facco, the managing director of Fiera di Vicenza, and Gaetano Cavalieri, the president of CIBJO. The panelists include Marieke van der Mijn, the standards coordinator at the Responsible Jewellery Council; Michael Allchin, the CEO at the Birmingham Assay Office and the president of the CIBJO Precious Metals Commission; Philip Olden, who is responsible for managing the development and implementation of responsible sourcing protocols for gold at Signet, the world's largest specialty jewelry retailer; Maria Benedetta Francesconi of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and Rossella Ravagli, the corporate social and environmental responsibility manager at Gucci in Italy, who also is a representative of Confindustria Federorafi.
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