Date: March 17, 2017
Issue: Corporate Governance; Conflict Minerals
To: SEC
Filing Type: Letter
Description: The Chamber believes that the continuing decades old human rights crisis in the Congo needs to be resolved. However the regulation implementing Section 1502 fails to do so while imposing substantial reporting requirements upon companies, despite parts of the disclosure being struck down as violating the First Amendment.
In fact, substantial evidence shows that the conflict minerals rule has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis on the ground in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the ―Congo‖ or the ―DRC‖). The reports public companies are mandated to file also contribute to ―information overload‖ and create further disincentives for businesses to go public or remain public companies. Accordingly, the Chamber strongly supports Congressional repeal of Section 1502 due to its all-advised and fundamentally flawed approach to solving a geopolitical crisis, and the substantial burden it imposes upon public companies and their shareholders. Absent full repeal by Congress, the reports should be scaled in light of the D.C. Circuit‘s ruling.