As the EU parliament is currently discussing new laws to reduce the use of “blood minerals” in electronic devices (see here), these proposals are beeing called “weak and toothless” (eg discussed in this Guardian Article).
There is also a petitition for stronger rules for conflict minerals.
Thank you for sharing this. I think is a really important issue and any legislation needs to be legally binding to bring about some real change
It has passed!
Smartphone, laptop makers face new EU rules on conflict minerals
[quote]European electronics manufacturers and smartphone makers will have to
follow new guidelines to ensure that their raw materials don’t
indirectly fund terrorism.
National ministers, MEPs, and the European Commission reached a
political deal on Thursday on the Conflict Minerals Regulation. The
planned framework aims to stop the financing of armed groups through
trade in conflict minerals.
Conflict minerals—tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (so-called
3TG)—are heavily used in electronics manufacturing, and are often sold
by military groups to fund their activities, including horrific
violations of human rights.
The European Union—with more than 400 importers of such ores and metals—is one of the world’s largest markets for 3TG.
[…][/quote]
EDIT: Oops, I misunderstood. Its not through yet, there is “political understanding”. Big chance it gets through next month:
[quote]The political understanding paves the way for final adoption of the law in the coming months.[/quote]I’m curious about the implications. If this means a ban on import on products with non-conflict-free minerals that is going to be a big change, but if it just means the EU’s own products then that makes tech business more difficult in the EU because the rest of the world doesn’t have those limitations. Either way, if the EU leads w/this, others must be inclined to follow.
I just wanted to start a post about it 
I think it needs to be discussed a bit more. I wonder if the FP insiders can give us a few more information about the pros and cons of it.
Maybe new thread is deserved after one year. After all, this is no longer a petition. It will become law! I had to edit my post though because I thought it was already law, but there is just political agreement or understanding about the issue. According to the article it will become law in the coming months. I also added my take on the matter to start the discussion. Very interesting times