Responsible Procurement of Mineral Resources

As we consider that responsible procurement of mineral is one of our social responsibilities as a company, the HORIBA Group avoids raw materials  from conflict-affected and high-risk areas(conflict minerals), including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its nine neighboring countries as well as devices and components that contain conflict minerals.

Under this policy, we formulated the “HORIBA Group Responsible Mineral Resource Procurement Regulations”, and ensure compliance with laws and regulations by conducting annual surveys using the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT), a standardized reporting template developed by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI)*2. Should the use of conflict minerals be discovered, we will promptly discuss with relevant business partners and taking corrective actions such as suspending their use, etc.

*1. A responsible mineral sourcing is to make efforts not to use minerals produced in conflict areas and high risk areas from perspective of a social responsibility as a company. The export of minerals from the target areas has become the source of income for armed insurgents and anti-government organizations. Because of this, and to execute Article 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 2010, the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) adopted a rule in August 2012 to request listed American companies to disclose information on conflict minerals (gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its nine neighboring countries ).

*2. RMI (Responsible Minerals Initiative) is a group leading conflict minerals issues.