Woburn, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/05/2014 -- Green Status Pro sponsored a unique peer-to-peer webinar, May 31 Deadline: Conflict Minerals Lessons Learned, on May 1,2014. Leading practitioners described the challenges they faced implementing the SEC’s Conflict Minerals Reporting requirement in their companies; their solutions; and the improvements they will make in their programs during 2014.

The panel described that their greatest challenge was to meet their customers’ conflict minerals reporting requirement by providing accurate information on demand. The major problem they faced since the inception of their conflict minerals programs was inaccurate information from their suppliers. This increases both the cost and risk of doing business with suppliers whose conflict minerals reporting processes do not meet the requirements and objectives of Dodd- Frank Section 1502.

“The key lesson learned is that competency in the Conflict Minerals Reporting process provides suppliers with a competitive advantage,” summarized Rob Kasameyer, president of Green Status Pro “Suppliers that have decided not to meet the basic reporting requirements are already being phased out. The next step is to remove suppliers whose RCOI information is inaccurate or not available on demand because they lack an effective continuous monitoring and reporting process.”

The SEC requires that Filers replace suppliers that are non-supportive of the Conflict Minerals rule. Filing companies are requesting supply chain information from their suppliers in conformance with the SEC’s Conflict Minerals requirements. While the rule itself allows Filing companies to report their conflict minerals use as ‘undeterminable’ for a transition period of 2 to 4 years based on company size, Filers are putting in place their systems now, and are requiring their suppliers to do the same. This is giving pro-active suppliers opportunities to differentiate and out flank their competition.

“A significant lesson learned from the panel is the term ‘DRC conflict undeterminable’ is obsolete. Customers regard it as inaccurate. Corporate governance policies and SEC regulations both prohibit misleading or false statements. Smaller Filers have customers who are large Filers so their 4-year transition period is moot,” reported John Logan, founder of Green Status Pro. “Companies will classify suppliers who continue to claim their 3TG are ‘DRC conflict undeterminable’ as ‘High Risk.’

The panel provide many additional Lessons Learned, such as “Manual processing of supplier information is out: you must automate” and “In 2014, we will have a third-party audit whether or not required for executive review.” Green Status Pro has made the session publicly available. A recording of the May 31 Deadline: Conflict Minerals Lessons Learned webinar is now available by clicking here and at the Green Status Pro website, Green Status Pro.

About Green Status Pro
Green Status Pro’s mission is to simplify the regulatory lives of operating managers by providing a knowledge-based solution to automate Due Diligence Reporting. Green Status Pro is the leader in automating and simplifying SEC Conflict Minerals Reporting as legislated by Dodd-Frank Section 1502. Green Status Pro is the only cloud-based software service in the world that provides the knowledge base to document a firm’s OECD Conflict Minerals Due Diligence program and automate its RCOI reporting. Green Status Pro is an IBM Business Partner, hosting its applications on IBM’s SoftLayer secure global cloud infrastructure. For more information about Green Status Pro, please visit GreenStatusPro.com.