Although Advantest is not subject to Section 1502 of the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act (Conflict Minerals Clause), we are 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) tool developed by the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI)*.
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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 CPO. A survey of our business partners is conducted around July, and the results are reported to the CPO and relevant departments at the end of the fiscal year after verifying the smelters/refineries listed in the CMRT with the information disclosed by the RMI.
Stakeholders are highly concerned about conflict minerals, and wish to promote procurement from conformant smelters. However, it is 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.
Survey Results for FY2023
The results showing the verification of refineries/smelters listed in the FY2023 CMRT with the information disclosed by the RMI are as follows:
In total, the ratio of conformant smelters was 59.4%.
Although we have not been able to conduct sufficient on-site investigations due to the disruptions on the supply chain triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will continue to seek
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.