Conflict Minerals Procurement Policy

There are numerous types of mineral resources buried within the lands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in central Africa, and its neighbouring countries. Ores containing minerals such as tin which is used in solders to secure electronic parts to printed circuit boards, tantalum which is used in capacitors, tungsten which is used in superhard materials, and gold which is used in lead frames can be found in this region. The locals extract these ores, which traders and brokers export to other countries in order to earn valuable foreign currencies, but part of those foreign currencies are forcibly collected and used as funds to purchase weapons by armed groups that repeatedly engage in conflict and violate human rights in the same region, which has become a major problem. As such, the minerals listed above are called “conflict minerals”.

The policy for procurement departments in all Hitachi Group companies have always been and will continue to be to ensure that procurement activities do not result or aid in conflicts within the same region and that the armed groups described above do not benefit from those activities, while continuing responsible procurement activities of minerals that are not related to the conflicts in the region based on local laws. Additionally, we will continue to support the practice of due diligence based on the “OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas” among companies. With these in mind, Hitachi Group would like to request all our supplier to utilise the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template developed by RBA/ GeSI to continue checking the country of origin and supply chain of minerals, and also to procure from the CFS (Conflict Free Smelter)^*1 listed within.

You can read the Hitachi Group Conflict Minerals Policy here.

^*1 CFS (Conflict Free Smelter): A list of smelters who have been identified as “not being involved in the conflict within the same region” by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), an organization that was founded by the RBA/GeSI, which is a group that aims to solve the conflict minerals problem.