While regulators and activists pore over recently filed conflict minerals reports, a government watchdog is placing a critical eye on its own efforts. A new report by the Government Accountability Office looks at the role various agencies play in the effort to crack down on the use of tin, gold, tantalum, and tungsten that is mined in the Congo and supports violent militia groups.

The conclusion: a weak link in that effort is building a list of conflict-free smelters and refiners, a responsibility the  Commerce Department is not fulfilling.

The State Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have been active on the issue, especially the latter's still-controversial disclosure demands, but the Commerce Department has yet to compile a list of all conflict minerals processing facilities, as required by Congress, the GAO said.

Responding to the review, officials at that agency say it has completed outreach efforts. But, the report notes, “Commerce did not have a plan of action, with associated time frames, for developing and reporting on the list of conflict minerals processing facilities worldwide.” Smelters and refineries are seen by many as the choke point for the distribution of conflict minerals.

     

“An action plan with time frames could better position Commerce to report on the status of its efforts to produce a final list to Congress and to hold its personnel accountable for completing activities,” the GAO wrote. In response to the study, Commerce Department officials have pledged to provide Congress with a list of all known conflict minerals processing facilities, worldwide, by Sept. 1, 2014.

The good news, according to the government watchdog, is that important stakeholder initiatives are expanding their own efforts in the past year. Among them the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative, founded in 2008 by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative. As of April 25, the group had certified 85 smelters as conflict-free and is working with another 25 on certification.

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