IPC to Develop Data Exchange Standard for Conflict Minerals Regulation

IPC will begin development of a data exchange standard to help the electronics manufacturing industry comply with forthcoming US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations on conflict minerals at a kickoff meeting on September 22, 2011, held in conjunction with IPC Midwest Conference and Exhibition, Schaumburg, Ill, USA. The IPC data exchange standard will build upon the due diligence communication tool recently released by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and utilize the sophistication of an XML schema incorporated in the IPC-175x family of IPC standards. As an ANSI-accredited standards development organization, IPC will seek input from a broad stakeholder group, beginning with the kickoff meeting at IPC Midwest.

Under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111-203), any publicly traded company will be burdened with preparing and submitting detailed reports to the SEC if its products contain the "conflict minerals" tin, tantalum, gold, or tungsten that cannot be proven to be "Conflict-Free."

According to Mark Frimann, SC Product Stewardship, Texas Instruments, having a standardized approach to exchanging information on conflict minerals would benefit the entire industry. "The industry needs a reporting tool to deal with conflict minerals and we are fortunate to have the EICC/GeSI tool as a model," says Frimann who is also co-chair of the IPC Materials Declaration Task Group. "IPC's open process for input will ensure that the final outcome [standard] will be useful to and adopted by the broader electronics industry."

Individuals interested in participating in the IPC conflict minerals task group kick-off meeting on September 22, 2011, at 1:00 pm Central time, should register at www.IPCMidwestShow.org/register. For more information on the conflict minerals task group, contact Fern Abrams, IPC Director of Government Relations and Environmental Policy, at fabrams@ipc.org.

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