IPC Releases Position Statement on the Trade of Conflict Metals

The Solder Products Value Council (SPVC) of IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries issued the organization’s position statement on conflict metals during a Supply Chain Workshop held on May 20, 2010, by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The IPC SPVC position statement reads, "The IPC Solder Products Value Council supports governments, non-governmental organizations and industry groups in their efforts to eliminate trade of ‘conflict metals,’ especially mined tin from the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

"The IPC SPVC believes that based on solder manufacturers’ position in the value chain, smelters and mines are in the best position to develop and implement a system to ensure mineral traceability from the exporter back to the mine site and to develop chain of custody data. Furthermore, the IPC SPVC supports ITRI’s (formerly known as the International Tin Research Institute) efforts to achieve that goal.”

The purpose of the workshop held by EICC and GeSI was the development and implementation of a credible system that could validate that minerals are sourced responsibly.

Members of the IPC SPVC include: AIM; Amtech, Inc; Cookson Electronics; Henkel Corporation; Indium Corporation; Inventec Performance Chemicals; Kester; Koki Company Ltd; Metallic Resources Inc; Nihon Superior Company Ltd; Nordson EFD LLC; P Kay Metal Inc; Qualitek; Redring Solder (M) SDN; Senju Metal Industry; and Sigma Ming Gao Electronics.

For more information on the activities of the IPC SPVC, contact Tony Hilvers, IPC Vice President of Industry Programs, at TonyHilvers@ipc.org.

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