It is important that a buyer carries out an appropriate level of due diligence early in the process to establish if what they are buying raises any concern about the use of conflict minerals.
The overview page of this guidance identifies indicators of risk/opportunity.
A buyer should conduct their own research for up to date information on risks related to a particular commodity or service. This could include using the various sources of information available on-line, for example:
- CSR Risk Check is an assessment tool that highlights risks for particular products and services, and its World Map shows known risks in each country
- Global Slavery Index is a country by county estimate of the number of people living in modern slavery today, it provides a country or regional analysis of the size of the problem and the actions governments are taking
- Freedom in the World's annual report ranks countries political rights and civil liberties
- Transparency International Corruption Perception Index highlights the progress countries are making in ending corruption
- an online tool Modern Slavery Map has been created that can be searched by location, sector, issues and organisation type for anti-human trafficking initiatives and projects
- CIPS have a number of ethical and sustainable procurement resources including e-learning and an online test which addresses sustainable procurement
- Global Witness concerned with environmental and human rights abuses driven by the exploitation of natural resources and corruption in the global political and economic system
- Responsible Minerals Initiative supports supply chain solutions to conflict minerals challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the African Great Lakes Region of Central Africa
- European Partnership for Responsible Minerals improving social and economic conditions for mine workers and local mining communities, by increasing the number of mines that adopt responsible mining practices in conflict and high risk areas
- OECD Due Diligence Guidance provides detailed recommendations to help companies respect human rights and avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral purchasing decisions and practices
- Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) comprised of companies from a range of industries addressing responsible mineral sourcing issues in their supply chains
Return to: Policy and legal context Continue to: Pre-contract notification
