While the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to move
forward to meet the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, it does not
appear that it or its staff have much enthusiasm for the conflict
mineral portion of those requirements. Nevertheless, absent
Congressional action, adoption of the conflict mineral rules
appears to be inevitable.
At a budget hearing before the House Committee on Appropriations
on March 6, 2012, SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro indicated that the
rules will not be adopted until "the middle of the year."
In response to questions, Chairman Schapiro indicated that the SEC
would need more time to complete the rules due to the complexity of
the rulemaking and the fact that the nature of the Congressionally
mandated rules is "so out of the ordinary for the
SEC."
She also said that the final rules will "try to give
latitude and flexibility in some areas" to help companies
comply and will include some phase-in period to allow time for
supply chain due diligence mechanisms to be developed and
implemented. In her prepared testimony, Chairman Schapiro also
observed that, in fiscal year 2013, the SEC expects to see a
heightened level of interpretive inquiries from public companies
about new rules, including the conflicts minerals rules.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
Specific Questions relating to this article should be addressed directly to the author.
Last month, the National Association of Corporate Directors took a stab at identifying ground rules in its "Directors’ Guide" to corporate board and committee minutes.
The SEC has recently announced that it entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with Ralph Lauren Corp. in connection with alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets recently addressed the ABA’s membership at its annual meeting, and commented on the need to consider closely whether certain private funds, finders and other intermediaries should register as broker-dealers.
The time has come to take out and refresh those business associate agreements, HIPAA privacy and security compliance manuals, and HIPAA privacy notices.
A discussion on determining whether a bidder is "serious" in its pursuit of the target is a key factor in analyzing a target director’s liability for "bad faith" in the context of a merger and acquisition sales process under Delaware law.
On March 4, 2013, Nasdaq issued a proposed new rule that, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, will require listed companies to establish and maintain an internal audit function.
Twitter
Facebook
Digg 
