Although Advantest is not subject to Section 1502 of the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act (the so called “Conflict Minerals Clause”), we are committed to addressing the issue of conflict minerals. Since 2013, Advantest has been implementing an annual mineral procurement survey of our business partners using the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT) and Extended Minerals Reporting Template (EMRT) tools developed by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI)* and have set them as KPI in our Sustainability Action Plan.
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Survey System
The survey is led by the Supply Chain Division. A survey schedule is developed in May each year, and the survey policy and the target products are determined together with the CSCO. A survey of our business partners is conducted around September, and the results are reported to the CSCO and relevant departments at the end of the fiscal year after verifying the smelters listed in the CMRT and EMRT with the information disclosed by the RMI.
Future Initiatives and Issues
While stakeholders are highly concerned about conflict minerals, we are also working to promote procurement from conformant smelters. However, it is still difficult to assure confirmation that a supplier is free of conflict minerals, therefore, we are continuing to work on this issue while internally examining how to improve the accuracy of the survey and how to provide feedback to our business partners, referring to information obtained through international organizations and experts.
Starting in FY2024, the scope of minerals was expanded to include cobalt and mica in addition to the conventional 3TG (tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold).
Results of Responsible Mineral Sourcing
The survey did not identify any serious risks or issues at the smelters surveyed based on responsible mineral sourcing standards. We will continue to request sourcing from conformant smelters and seek continued cooperation from our business partners who we are yet to confirm.
We also respond appropriately to all requests from our customers regarding responsible mineral sourcing.