Supply Chain Policy
The ethical business practices we demand of our employees in our own Code of Conduct also apply to our actions as a group of companies. One of our key principles is the respect of human rights in the acquisition of our raw materials. For this reason we implement a Supply Chain Policy that leads us to suppress the potential negative social impact of our supply base.
The conflict minerals
In politically unstable areas (DRC, CAHRA’s), armed groups often use forced labour to mine minerals. They then sell those minerals to fund their activities, for example to buy weapons. These so-called 'conflict minerals', such as tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold, can find their way into our mobile phones, cars and jewellery.
Thorough checking of suppliers
The US Security and Exchange Commission & the European Parliament and the Council issued clear guidelines to companies with regard to the obligation to provide evidence of conflict-free raw materials. These guidelines apply to the entire supply chain. Together with other tungsten processors, CERATIZIT founded the working group TI-CMC (Tungsten Industry Conflict Minerals Council). The group developed a standardized approach to enable it to check smelting works' compliance with the guidelines. CERATIZIT’s downstream conflict minerals supply chain due diligence management audit has been included in the headquarters’ ISO 9001 audit program.
Selected business partners
The TI-CMC collaborates with organisations from other sectors, such as the RMI (Responsible Minerals Initiative), in order to cover other minerals in addition to tungsten such as cobalt, tantalum, tin and gold. The outcome of this work is a list of trustworthy companies which meet all the requirements for compliance. CERATIZIT relies on business relationships with members of the RMI which are already classed as "conflict free" smelting works or which are in the process of being verified.
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