By Paul Davies and Michael Green

The European Conflict Minerals Regulation (the Regulation) was approved by the European Council on 3 April 2017. Publication in the Official Journal of the European Union will be the next step in the process and this could take 3-6 weeks. The Regulation will be directly applicable in all EU member states when it takes effect in January 2021.

This has been many years in the making – the European Commission (the Commission) issued the first draft regulation in 2014. The EU Council and European Parliament each considered this and produced their own versions. Tripartite negotiations were then undertaken to achieve a regulation text that would be workable for all three institutions. On 22 November 2016, these negotiations were successfully concluded.

The Regulation sets out certain rules for all importers into the EU of minerals or metals containing or consisting of tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold (3TG). It includes an annex that provides a more detailed description of the specific metals and minerals that are covered, including tin ores and concentrates, tungsten oxides and hydroxides, carbides of tantalum and unwrought or semi-manufactured from gold. The Regulation will apply to minerals and metals listed in Annex 1 of the Regulation that are obtained as by-products. Significantly, recycled metals are exempt from the application of the Regulation. By way of summary, “recycled” means reclaimed end-user or post-consumer products. Minerals that are partially processed, unprocessed or a by-product of another ore are not considered to be “recycled”. Existing stocks of minerals, held before 1 February 2013 will not fall within the scope of this Regulation. The Commission will be required to review the Regulation (in terms of its functioning and effectiveness) every three years, taking into account its impact on the ground and on the main EU economic actors.