Coo coo for conflict minerals

The U.S. government has conceded that it can’t actually tell “which refiners and smelters around the world are financially fueling violence in the war-torn Congo region.” However, under a law passed by Congress in a fit of moral self-congratulation, publicly held companies are still going to be subject to stringent penalties for disclosure violations if they screw up on the reporting of these ultimately untraceable connections. Time for repeal [Bainbridge, Emily Chasan/WSJ CFO Journal blog; earlier] Update: Cost of disclosure reported by Tulane study at $700 million [Bainbridge]

4 Comments

  • Apparently. only privately held companies will be allowed to financially fuel violence in the war-torn Congo region.

  • Actually, the only ethical thing to do in this situation is to ban all trade in these materials, so that no one (especially children) is harmed by their production.

    /sarc

  • Still no word on banning “conflict dollars” used to fund violence? Or are we only banning durable currency substitutes associated with foreigners?

  • Repeal? Perish the though W/O.

    How else can the Feds indict the firms for failing to comply with a law that can’t be complied with?

    After all, an innocent man (or company) can not be extorted by force of law.