PETOL™ has established an OECD-compliant conflict minerals program to identify and assess risks in our supply chain by requesting smelter-level information related to conflict minerals in our products. We are actively working to identify any products that may contain conflict minerals. We have adopted a three-step due diligence process to determine the source and chain of custody of conflict minerals in our supply chain.
Step One: Establish Strong Company Management Systems. PETOL’s Conflict Minerals Policy and Code of Conduct state our goal to identify and eliminate any content in our supply chain tainted with forced labor or human rights abuses in the procurement of parts for manufacture, including conflict minerals that fund armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or any adjoining country. We have established a Conflict Minerals Compliance Team, led by the General Counsel of the company, to develop and maintain policies, standards and processes that relate to the management of conflict minerals risk in the supply chain. We have instructed our direct material suppliers to ensure their products are in line with our policy.
Step Two: Identify Conflict Minerals Risk in the Supply Chain. In order to determine the source and chain of custody of any tin, tungsten, tantalum or gold (3TG) used in our products, we first identified “at-risk” direct purchases – parts that we know contain or are likely to contain 3TG. Next we identified the suppliers of those parts. These “at risk” parts and suppliers formed the basis of our Reasonable Country of Origin (RCOI) process for identifying the smelter-level information for any 3TGs these parts contain.
We contacted each of our direct materials suppliers, asking if any of the parts we purchase from them contain 3TG. Some suppliers provided definitive written assurance that the parts we purchase from them do not contain 3TG. We asked the remaining suppliers to complete a Conflict Minerals Reporting Template in order to confirm the presence of 3TG, determine the smelter/refinery, and confirm the country of origin if possible. As supplier reporting templates were received each response was tabulated and reviewed for completeness and sufficiency.
As part of our process we reviewed the supplier-provided smelter information in order to identify potential “red flags” as defined by the OECD guidance. If a “red flag” was identified we conducted follow-up actions with the supplier and smelter in order to validate the information and to determine whether our purchases of 3TG directly or indirectly benefited armed groups in the DRC or adjoining countries. At the conclusion of the RCOI process, we assigned each supplier response a status code.
Step Three: Determination of Conflict Status. Based on the collection of supplier surveys and review of listed smelters, we then made a summary determination as to the status of conflict minerals in our supply chain, and drafted our company-level Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT), which we provide to our customers upon request.
In addition to performing supply chain due diligence, we are in the process of implementing additional processes and controls to better manage conflict minerals risk and make our program sustainable.