Conflict Minerals
Hankook Tire puts its utmost efforts into the due diligence not to purchase any raw or subsidiary material from conflict-affected or high-risk areas where human rights are significantly threatened.
Background
Conflict mineral regulations were initiated to prevent the profits generated through the sales of minerals mined in conflict-affected or high-risk areas from getting into the wrong hands of armed groups in such areas. These regulations require that businesses report on their use of minerals mined in the areas mentioned above (tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold, etc.).
Definition of Conflict Minerals
- Conflict minerals are natural resources extracted from conflict-affected and high-risk areas where various armed groups and rebels have profited from mining while committing severe human rights violations and exploitation
- Conflict-affected or High-risk Areas (10 areas): Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, the Central African Republic, (the People's Republic of) Congo, Angola, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda
- Conflict Minerals: Tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold which are extracted from the 10 areas mentioned above
Hankook Tire Policy on Conflict Minerals
- 1. Hankook Tire has a specific clause regarding conflict minerals under the Regulation on the Selection and Management of Raw and Subsidiary Materials Suppliers, Article 8, Chapter 3 (Conflict Minerals)
- 1) All the suppliers who provide materials to Hankook Tire shall not use the minerals extracted from conflict-affected or high-risk areas.
- 2) Suppliers must submit the certificate of origin to prove that they source conflict-free minerals.
- 3) Hankook Tire may conduct an on-site audit of supplier practices, if needed.
- 2. Conflict Minerals Verification and Risk Assessment Process
Hankook Tire’s Response
- 1. Since Hankook Tire is not listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange, it is not directly subject to these regulations. Carmakers, however, increasingly demand that Hankook Tire, as a tire supplier, check on its use of conflict minerals. While tin, one of the regulated minerals, is contained in the bead wires of tires, we ensure that such bead wires come from suppliers who procure tin from the smelters certified by independent third-party auditors to be ‘Conflict Free’.
- 2. In a move to comply with conflict mineral regulations, Hankook Tire set its purchasing policy to ban the use of such minerals and developed regulations to evaluate the suppliers on their use of conflict minerals as part of its on-site audit process. Hankook Tire made notice of these regulations across its supply chain to call for its suppliers to ban their use of conflict minerals, and Hankook Tire has required that the suppliers who provide it with concerned minerals submit their Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) as well as the certificate of origin every year.
