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Can Bad Law Do Good? A Retrospective On Conflict Minerals Regulation, Karen E. Woody
Can Bad Law Do Good? A Retrospective On Conflict Minerals Regulation, Karen E. Woody
Karen Woody
Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank”) created a novel approach to corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) in supply chains by requiring public companies to disclose the presence of conflict minerals in their products. Dodd-Frank, as a whole, has faced a barrage of criticism since its passage, and Section 1502 was not immune from intense critical backlash. As I argued in prior scholarship and congressional testimony, Section 1502 was ill-conceived in substance and form. Its application resulted in the improper use of securities laws to the detriment of its laudable public international law …
Conflict Minerals Legislation: The Sec’S New Role As Diplomatic And Humanitarian Watchdog, Karen E. Woody
Conflict Minerals Legislation: The Sec’S New Role As Diplomatic And Humanitarian Watchdog, Karen E. Woody
Karen Woody
Buried in the voluminous Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is an oft-overlooked provision requiring corporate disclosure of the use of “conflict minerals” in products manufactured by issuing corporations. This Article scrutinizes the legislative history and lobbying efforts behind the conflict minerals provision to establish that, unlike the majority of the bill, its goals are moral and political, rather than financial. Analyzing the history of disclosure requirements, the Article suggests that the presence of conflict minerals in an issuer’s product is not inherently material information and that the Dodd-Frank provision statutorily renders nonmaterial information material. The provision, therefore, …