Penn is aware of the role that minerals found in consumer electronics products play in perpetuating the current humanitarian crisis in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The University is working on ways to monitor compliance of its partners in the technology industry to ensure they are keeping up with industry standards to remedy this situation and others that arise in the future.
Major contracted suppliers of electronics to the University belong to the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) an organization devoted to improving social and environmental conditions in electronics supply chains. The EICC requires its members to follow a Code of Conduct which provides guidance in five critical areas of Corporate Social Responsibility performance – labor, health and safety, environment, management system and ethics.
As the EICC Code of Conduct does not yet specifically address the issue of conflict minerals, Penn has reached out to its major electronics suppliers to express concern about this issue and to request information about their efforts to ensure that the components they purchase throughout their supply chain are conflict free.
We are aware that there have been recent legislative and industry wide efforts to address the issue of conflict minerals. This includes the launch by the EICC in partnership with Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) of their Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) program and the completion of the first tantalum smelter assessment.
Penn’s major contract suppliers, through their participation with the EICC have indicated their interest in addressing the issue of conflict minerals and as these initiatives move forward, Penn is committed to supporting and encouraging efforts by the EICC and others to deal with this complex issue.
EICC and Major Contractor Supplier Links
- EICC Home Page
- EICC and GeSI Smelter Evaluation Initiative
- SEC Proposes Specialized Disclosure of Use of Conflict Minerals Under Dodd-Frank Act
Apple
- General Corporate Responsibility Site
- Current Report—See page 11 for conflict mineral information
Dell
Lenovo
Links for More Information
- The Enough Project at the Center for American Progress
- OECD Guidelines for Companies on Due Diligence in their Supply Chains
- Company Rankings on Actions by Enough Project