Instructions for completing attached 2013 Conflict Mineral submission to Ford Motor Company due September 30, 2013
Dear Supplier,
This email is intended to provide you with guidance on how Ford Motor Company will be analyzing your Conflict Minerals submission. All suppliers globally that provide parts contained in Ford vehicles, service parts, or other parts sold by Ford are required to support this effort.
For your convenience, we’ve attached a Conflict Minerals report template. To complete this template, make sure to fill in the following sections:
§ “Declaration” Tab
ü Company Information (including your Ford GSDB code in the “Company Unique Identifier”)
ü Questions 1-6 at a company level (from the top corporate level within your company)
ü Questions A-J at a company level
§ “Smelter List” Tab
ü All fields with an asterisk (*) plus any additional information you have received
§ “Smelter” in this document refers to both smelters and refiners (gold)
Once you have completed your company’s submission for Ford Motor Company, email it back to eiccgesi@ford.com.
Ford will analyze your Conflict Minerals submission for both completeness and consistency. To help you to understand Ford’s expectations for Questions 1 through 6 in the template, consider the following before submitting your report:
Question 1) Are any of the following metals necessary to the functionality or production of your company’s products that it manufactures or contracts to manufacture? If no for all metals, you are done with this survey.
Before you answer “No” to any metal in Question 1, consider the following:
· If your answer is “No” because you believe tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold are not necessary to the functionality or production of your product, understand that if any of these metals are intentionally added anywhere within your supply chain, Ford Motor Company considers it “necessary.”
· If your answer is “No” because tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold are not present in your product, explain your process for arriving at this conclusion in the “Comment” section.
· If you answer “No” without providing an explanation as to how you made your determination, your response will be considered INCOMPLETE and you will be asked to resubmit.
Question 2) Do the following metals (necessary to the functionality or production of your company's products) originate from the DRC or an adjoining country?
Before you answer “No” to any metal in Question 2, be aware that we require further information in order for this response to be complete. Acceptable evidence must include:
· Submissions from ALL of your suppliers that provide products which include tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, including their complete smelter lists; AND
· For all smelters of tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold that are not on the Conflict Free Smelter list, the country of origin of their minerals must also be included.
In this first year of reporting, an answer of “Uncertain” is acceptable. Continue to work with your suppliers to answer this question definitively for future submissions.
Question 3) Do the following metals (necessary to the functionality or production of your products) come from a recycler or scrap supplier?
In order to answer “Yes” to any metal in Question 3, you and your suppliers must be sourcing ALL tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold for all of the products supplied to Ford Motor Company from recycled or scrap material. If any of your products contain tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold that is not from scrap or recycled material, respond “No” and continue your efforts to provide smelter names for all non-recycled tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold purchased in your supply chain.
Question 4) Have you received completed Conflict Minerals Reporting Templates from all of your suppliers?
If you respond “Yes” for Question 4, you must provide the names of smelters used in your supply chain in order for this answer to be complete.
If you respond with any answer less than 100%, continue to survey your suppliers and update your response when additional information becomes available.
If you respond “None,” your response will be considered INCOMPLETE. You are required to conduct a reasonable country of origin inquiry and report your results accordingly.
Question 5) For each of the following metals, have you identified all of the smelters your company and its suppliers use to supply the products included within the declaration scope indicated above? (Ford requests that all suppliers respond at the Company level)
Before you answer “Yes” to any metal in Question 5, you will need to have received reports from ALL suppliers that provide products to you which include tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, including their complete smelter lists.
If you do not know all of the smelters in your supply base, you may answer “No” in your September 30 submission. However, we ask that you continue to work with your suppliers to obtain this information. As you receive more information, you may resubmit your updated declaration to Ford Motor Company until January 15, 2014. Next year, Ford Motor Company will expect a more inclusive list of smelter and mine data.
For all submissions, you must complete the required fields (facility name and country) for all of the smelters on your “Smelter List.” If you also have additional contact information, include it as well.
Question 6) Have all of the smelters used by your company and its suppliers been validated as compliant in accordance with the Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) Program and listed on the Compliant Smelter List for the following metals?
Respond “Yes” for any metal ONLY if:
· ALL of the smelters your company and your suppliers use have been identified; AND
· ALL of these smelters are listed on the Compliant Smelter List (see “Conflict-Free Smelter Program: Compliant Smelter and Refiner Lists,” then click on “Compliant Tantalum/Tin/Tungsten Smelters/Gold Refiners” for the most updated list).
There is a difference between being an identified smelter and being a Compliant Smelter. Compliant Smelters have gone through an audit process to validate their “conflict-free” status.
The primary goal of this legislation is to increase the transparency of minerals sourced within our supply chains in order to prevent funding of the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Within the automotive industry, we can all contribute to achieving this goal by encouraging our supply chain partners to encourage their smelters to work with the Conflict Free Smelter Program, creating more supply of validated “conflict-free” minerals. As the capacity for Conflict Free Smelters is only starting to develop, the more encouragement all smelters receive to start this process, the more supply we can create to meet industry demand.
Thank you for all of your efforts in collecting and reporting this information. We appreciate your continued partnership with Ford Motor Company.
Sincerely,