The regulation in Release No. 34-67716 implements Section 13(p) of the Exchange Act, which was added by Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Section 1502 directs the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue rules requiring certain companies that manufacture products to disclose annually whether conflict minerals in those products originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, those minerals include tantalum, tin, gold, and tungsten. The final rule requires reporting companies that manufacture products or contract to have products manufactured that contain conflict minerals necessary to the functionality or production of those products to conduct a reasonable inquiry into the origin of those conflict minerals. Based on the inquiry, a company may have to conduct a more extensive inquiry that requires the exercise of due diligence on the source and chain of custody of its conflict minerals. Depending on the results of the due diligence, the company may have to describe the products containing conflict minerals that are not "DRC conflict free" in a conflict minerals report and obtain an independent private sector audit of that report. We estimate that the regulation will result in approximately 2,225,273 new burden hours of in-house personnel time and approximately $1,178,378,167 in new costs for the services of outside professionals.
$150,000
No
No
No
Yes
No
Uncollected
John Fieldsend 202 551-3343
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.