“Bonjour.Merci beaucoup. Thank you for inviting us to this debate. And thank you for, two, the researchers for a study that highlights the complexity and the multiple challenges around ensuring proper traceability in critical raw material supply chains. Traceability is not a new concern for the EU. The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation one, for instance, is a significant legislative effort to address these complexities. The study lists the various traceability tools developed to comply with EU legislation. And despite some weaknesses and occasional failures, these tools have been essential for EU importers and industries to continue operations and maintain high attention towards responsible supply chains, especially in conflict affected in high risk areas. However, what is needed is not only ensuring participation in global supply chain, but also making sure that this happens in full respect with human rights principle. Hence a tick the box exercise is not enough. Dg India has been very active in developing programs that could support concrete solutions on the ground in our partner countries. And inevitably, this means looking at the Great Lakes region where there is where these issues are particularly acute and to the specific role of artisanal and small scale mining. That community is placed in this context. I'd like to mention two examples in particular here. First, the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals, a multi-stakeholder platform with which the EU has been financing since 2018. Through it, the EU has promoted several pilot projects in the area of traceability, and I'm glad to see that some of these have been mentioned in your study, such as the Cobalt Credit System developed by the Impact Facility in an attempt to link ESM communities to the due diligence requirements of companies involved in the green and digital transition. Secondly, the EU support to the regional initiative against the illegal exploitation of natural Resources of the ICG, LR, it has been mentioned and notably its regional certification mechanism.”
Due diligence in supply chains (environmental and human rights) · Sourcing of critical raw materials · EU policy on labour exploitation in global supply chains