On 16 March, Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of making EU companies take responsibility for the origin of the minerals they import. Companies will have to check their supply chain in order to respect human rights and prevent them from contributing to conflicts from 1 January 2021 onwards. EU countries will be responsible for ensuring that companies comply. The regulation will also have an impact beyond the EU, as smelters that want to supply to the European market will have to be certified. EuCheMS has discussed the issue of conflict minerals as well as the issue of substituting the raw materials coming from conflict zones.

Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/