Hambrox Ltd
1 Dec 2025
EU companies have a legal obligation to conduct supply chain due diligence to ensure minerals are sourced responsibly from conflict-free areas.
EU Companies’ Supply Chain Due Diligence Obligations for Minerals from CAHRA
The end-to-end process from sourcing to applications of mineral resources can contribute to the economic growth and development of countries and communities where these minerals are located in abundance. However, many of those regions are prone to conflicts whereby armed groups engage in the minerals trade through human rights abuses, corruption and money laundering to fund their activities.
The OECD Due Diligence Guidance was developed and adopted in 2011 to help all stakeholders operating within the mineral supply chains to avoid contributing to such conflicts through their operations and mineral sourcing practices. In May 2017 the EU passed a new regulation integrating The Guidance and its recommendations to stop:
conflict minerals and metals from being exported to the EU;
global and EU smelters and refiners from using conflict minerals, and;
mine workers from being abused.
The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation 2017/821 became law and began to apply from 1 January 2021. Even though The Regulation imposes strict supply chain due diligence obligations on importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold (3TG) originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA), it is ultimately designed to cover all minerals and geographic regions. The primary objective of Regulation (EU) 2017/821 is to prevent revenue from the sale of 3TG minerals from being used to finance armed conflict. Hence, EU companies importing any of these commodities from CAHRA, and areas deemed to be at high risk of conflict, have to comply with a number of due diligence obligations. Of particular importance are Articles 5 and 6 of The Regulation.
Article 5 sets out a list of risk management obligations that EU companies have to abide by. These include identifying and assessing the risks in their mineral supply chain, and implementing a strategy to prevent or mitigate adverse impacts. Risk assessments must be combined with the implementation of reporting mechanisms within each company.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2017/821/article/5
Article 6 details the obligation to conduct independent third-party audits, which must cover all the companies’ activities, processes and systems used to implement supply chain due diligence for minerals and metals.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2017/821/article/6?view=extent
Since it’s implementation, The Regulation has helped to break the link between conflicts and the illegal exploitation of minerals in CAHRA. However, there is still a long way to go to help put an end to the exploitation and abuse of local communities, including mine workers and child labour, and support local development of those regions.
