News

Advanced Search

CIBJO Hosts Conflict Mineral Legislation Seminar

Dec 23, 2013 9:24 AM   By CIBJO
Comment Comment Email Email Print Print Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Share Share
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. It involves legislation coming into effect in 2014 that will influence the businesses of thousands of jewelers directly or indirectly that supply the U. S. market and there is pending legislation that may affect companies importing or supplying jewelry in the European Union countries. The impact of these processes will be the subject of a critically important seminar that will take place on January 20, during the Vicenzaoro Winter show in Vicenza.

Entitled "Conflict mineral legislation in the Europe and the United States: How it impacts  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 noon 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.

In the U.S., according to the conflict mineral rules contained in Section 1502 of the 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 (SEC), 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 European Union  and is being led by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade. It is expected to build on existing efforts and guidelines such as those by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (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 and assay master at the Birmingham Assay Office and CIBJO's president of the 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 a representative of Confindustria Federorafi will also participate.


Rapaport News is not responsible for, and does not endorse, the content of any third-party press release. This is not a Rapaport Press Release. It has been provided as additional information for our clients.
Comment Comment Email Email Print Print Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Share Share
Tags: CIBJO
Similar Articles
Comments: (0)  Add comment Add Comment
Arrange Comments Last to First