The mineral-rich DRC, Africa’s second-largest country, has been plagued by cycles of violence and instability. Since 1998, violent conflicts, poverty, and disease have killed more than 5.4 million people in the country, according to estimates by the International Rescue Committee. The DRC was colonized as a personal possession of Belgian King Leopold II in 1885 and administered by the Belgian government starting in 1907. It achieved independence from Belgium in 1960. For almost 30 years of the post-independence period, the DRC, then known as Zaire, was ruled by an authoritarian regime under Mobutu Sese Seko. Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the establishment of a new government there, some perpetrators of the genocide and refugees fled to the neighboring Kivu provinces of eastern DRC. A rebellion began there in 1996, pitting the forces led by Laurent Kabila against the army of President Mobutu Sese Seko. Kabila’s forces, aided by Rwanda and Uganda, took the capital city of Kinshasa in 1997 and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. See figure 1 for a map of the DRC’s provinces and neighboring countries. A period of civil war among rival rebel groups ensued. In 2001 Laurent Kabila was assassinated and leadership shifted to his son Joseph Kabila, while the civil war continued. Starting in 1999 the UN Security Council authorized peacekeeping operations in the DRC which have been operating as the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Initially, the operation’s focus was on the ceasefire and disengagement of forces and maintenance of liaison with all parties involved with the civil war but then expanded to include the effective protection of civilians, humanitarian personnel and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence. The presence of illegal armed groups, such as M23, has continued to be an issue that MONUSCO has monitored in recent years. In November 2012, M23 occupied the city of Goma, a provincial capital in eastern DRC in the North Kivu province, and other cities in eastern DRC and clashed with the Congolese national army. During this time, the UN reported cases of sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups and members of the Congolese national army against women and children. While M23 eventually withdrew from the cities, the group’s presence in the region continues. In February 2013, the UN reported that eastern DRC continues to be plagued by recurrent waves of conflict, chronic humanitarian crises, and serious human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence. The report added that contributing factors to the cycles of violence have been the continuing presence of Congolese and foreign armed groups taking advantage of security vacuums in the eastern part of the country, the illegal exploitation of resources, interference by neighboring countries, and the weak capacity of the national army and police to effectively protect civilians and the national territory and ensure law and order. In March 2013, the UN Secretary- General appointed a Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa to support the implementation of the 11-nation “Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Region” adopted in February 2013. According to the UN, the agreement seeks to end the recurring cycle of conflicts and crisis in the eastern DRC and to build peace. Additionally, on March 28, 2013, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of an intervention brigade within the current peacekeeping operations in DRC to address imminent threats to peace and security. The objectives of the new force based in North Kivu province are to neutralize armed groups, reduce the threat they pose to state authority and civilian security, and make space for stabilization activities. Congress has focused on issues related to the DRC for almost a decade. In 2006, Congress passed the Democratic Republic of Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006. The act stated that it is the policy of the United States, among other things, to engage with governments working for peace and security throughout the DRC and hold accountable individuals, entities, and countries working to destabilize the government. In July 2010, Congress included several provisions in section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act related to conflict minerals in the DRC and adjoining countries. Specifically, section 1502(a) of the Act states that “it is the sense of Congress that the exploitation and trade of conflict minerals originating in the is helping to finance conflict characterized by extreme levels of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly sexual- and gender-based violence, and contributing to an emergency humanitarian situation therein,” warranting the provisions of Section 1502(b) of the Act. Section 1502(b) requires SEC, in consultation with State, to promulgate disclosure and reporting regulations regarding the use of conflict minerals from the DRC and adjoining countries. In November 2011, State and USAID, in collaboration with NGOs, industry, and other governments, launched the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA) to support responsible supply chain solutions regarding conflict minerals from the DRC and neighboring countries. The PPA supports pilot programs, with the ultimate goal of producing scalable, self-sustaining systems, to demonstrate a fully traced and validated conflict-mineral supply chain in a way that is credible to companies, civil society, and government. According to USAID, in addition to the PPA, the U.S. government’s contribution to the Responsible Minerals Trade Program in the DRC region has amounted to almost $19 million and includes activities focused on the protection of artisanal mining communities, institutional and human capacity building for responsible minerals trade, and capacity building in mining sector security, among other issues. The SEC Commissioners adopted the final conflict minerals rule on August 22, 2012, after a number of delays during the drafting process. SEC reported that during its rule-making process it received more than 400 letters commenting on the draft rule. As adopted, the final rule applies to any issuer that files reports with SEC under Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Securities Exchange Act) and uses conflict minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of a product manufactured or contracted by that issuer to be manufactured. According to SEC, issuers that have a reporting obligation are domestic and foreign companies that offer shares publicly and file forms 10-K, 20-F, or 40-F with SEC. For the purposes of our report, we refer to those issuing companies affected by the rule as “SEC-reporting companies under the rule.” (See app. II for more information on the steps a company needs to take to fulfill its reporting requirements.) Under the rule, such companies must file a disclosure report and conduct a “reasonable country of origin inquiry” to determine Companies that whether they must also file a conflict minerals report.are required to file a conflict minerals report must exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of their conflict minerals. The due diligence measures used by companies must conform to a nationally or internationally recognized due diligence framework, such as the due diligence guidance approved by OECD. If a company determines that its products are “DRC conflict-free” because they may have originated from the covered countries but did not finance or benefit armed groups, then the company must obtain an independent private sector audit and provide certification that it conducted an audit. If a company’s products have not been found to be “DRC conflict-free,” then the company must provide additional information in its conflict minerals report. For a temporary period—4 years for smaller reporting companies or 2 years for all other reporting companies—if a company is unable to determine whether the minerals in its products originated in the DRC or the adjoining countries or financed or benefited armed groups in those countries, then those products are considered “DRC conflict undeterminable” and no audit is Under the rule, all companies will need to file their first required.disclosure report to SEC on May 31, 2014, which covers the 2013 calendar year, and on May 31 annually thereafter. Figure 2 shows the reporting time frames for SEC-reporting companies under the rule. In October 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable filed a lawsuit against SEC regarding the final conflict minerals rule. In their petition, the two industry associations asked that the rule “be modified or set aside in whole or in part.” The petitioners have asked the court to review, among other things, whether SEC’s economic analysis is inadequate and whether SEC’s interpretations of certain key terms in section 1502 of the Act are consistent with congressional intent. The four conflict minerals covered by section 1502(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act are mined in various locations around the world. For example, tin is predominantly mined in China, Indonesia, Peru, and Bolivia, as well as in the DRC, while tantalum is reportedly predominantly mined in areas such as Australia, Brazil, and Canada. From 2006 through 2011, the majority of tungsten production—reportedly 77 to 87 percent of global production— was mined in China. Gold, however, is mined in many different countries, including the DRC. Our review of United States Geological Survey data on tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold mined in the DRC showed that about 12 percent of the global tantalum supply and less than 1 percent of the global tungsten supply was mined in the DRC in 2011. About 3 percent of the global tin supply, and less than 1 percent of the global gold supply, was mined in the DRC in 2010. As we reported in our 2012 report, various industries, particularly in manufacturing, use these minerals in a wide variety of products and in varying amounts.