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]
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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.