From January 2023, the Supply Chain Act – actually the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG for short) – will apply in Germany. All companies are affected. All of them? Yes, at least indirectly. Because as part of the supply chain, even companies that are not directly affected by the due diligence and disclosure requirements due to the number of employees must pass on information to their customers, for example, about the origin of their materials. We have compiled more on the new law for you in our specialist section.

With the LkSG, conflict minerals, which previously only suppliers of companies listed on the US stock exchange and Union importers had to report, are increasingly coming back into focus. And not only the already known 3TG (i.e. tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) are now playing a key role. The origin of other minerals such as cobalt or mica, which are often mined under doubtful conditions, is now also being questioned. Processes have to be put in place to avoid risks such as child labor and environmental pollution.

But only those who know which minerals are used in their products and where they come from can firstly provide information about them and secondly eliminate the risks in their supply chain. Material reporting systems such as the IMDS or the CDX can help with this. Here, all data is collected across the entire supply chain and can be queried at any time. The CDX has now been expanded to include the Responsible Materials Manager, so that EMRT can also be processed automatically in addition to CMRT. CMRT (short for Conflict Minerals Reporting Template) and EMRT (short for Extended Minerals Reporting Template) are Excel templates provided by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) to report conflict minerals.

We would be happy to offer advice and training on all of these topics and systems. Make an appointment for a free initial consultation or look for our training dates.