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EU wants to ensure platinum in catalytic converters obtained legitimately.

BRUSSELS Europes automakers have escaped a mandatory European Union due-diligence requirement for using so-called conflict minerals sourced from parts of the world that suffer from armed and civil strife.

There has been significant concern within the industry about the impact of a law designed to prevent money raised from sales of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold the so-called 3TG minerals from entering the pockets of warlords and violent rebels. This is because these metals are present in up to 50% of car parts, according to ACEA, the European automakers organization, and its CLEPA counterpart for parts manufacturers.

But in the final text of an EU regulation due to take effect Jan. 1, 2021, a voluntary due-diligence system for downstream users such as automakers will apply, provided the manufacturers buy their 3TG from EU suppliers and do not import raw minerals or metals directly.

The regulation the European Parliament cleared March 16 imposes mandatory due-diligence rules on companies importing 3TG into the EU. However, a Parliament spokesperson tells WardsAuto that downstream users nonetheless are encouraged to comply voluntarily with the regulations requirements that information on where and how such minerals are sourced be made available.

Large manufacturers with more than 500 employees, including most European automakers, that buy 3TG will be able to report annually on their sourcing practices through a voluntary program that includes an EU registry.The spokesperson says the EUs executive branch, the European Commission, is expected to set up the registry in one or two years.

The regulation requires importers to ensure their 3TG supplies are not sourced from conflict areas. To aid compliance, the EC will produce a guide to conflict and risk areas, which is likely to include Africas Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But country of origin is not the only indicator that a consignment is risky, as transit and irresponsible traders can mean conflict minerals enter developed markets by the back door. Thus the Commission also must draft a list of smelters or refiners supplying the EU deemed to be avoiding dubious sourcing practices.

To ease the compliance burden, the EU will recognize current industry-certification programs as being able to prove the rules are applied. Regulators will check the programs regularly to ensure high standards and continued compliance with Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) guidance. EU funding also will be granted small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees to help set up traceability systems for 3TG supplies.

A spokesperson for the European metal industry association, Eurometaux, says the import of finished and semi-finished products including these materials would be outside the scope of the law, although parts makers would have more liability if they imported materials directly.

But the auto industry looks set to embrace the voluntary program.This is an issue that the industry takes very seriously, and it is in constant dialogue with its supply chain partners to address any risks that may arise in the supply chain, the ACEA spokesperson says.

Many automakers already have voluntarily installed due-diligence processes in their supply chains that comply with existing regulatory frameworks and practices, including voluntary schemes such as OECD guidance, the spokesperson points out.

Often we hear from our downstream suppliers that they would like that proof, so it happens regardless of the regulation, the Eurometaux spokesperson says.

EU member states still must approve the rules in the EUs Council of Ministers, which likely will occur in the next few weeks as the regulations cleared in Parliament are a compromise deal the two reached last year. It was the parliament that forced not through voluntary but through mandatory due diligence for importers, mainly smelters and refiners, to bring EU rules in line with OECD guidance.

Members of Parliament originally wanted mandatory due diligence also to apply downstream, but they yielded on this in negotiations with the Council of Ministers.

If the regulation fails to stem the flow of conflict minerals into Europe, or the downstream industry does not participate in the voluntary program, mandatory compliance could be extended in future reviews the EC will publish every three years starting Jan. 1, 2023.

And the March 16 resolution makes clear the EC is expected to analyze ways that due diligence could be applied further along the supply chain in its review reports. Yet, the resolution recognizes downstream firms such as the auto industry have reported countless difficultiesand practical challengesin the exercise of supply-chain due diligence because of lengthy and complex global supply chains involving a high number of economic operators that are often insufficiently aware or ethically unconcerned.

The ACEA opposes any move to force due diligence on automakers.

Being a downstream sector, the automobile industry mostly does not import raw materials, a spokesperson says. The upstream part of the supply chain has the best leverage to achieve transparency in mineral sourcing, and to effectively combat the financing of armed conflicts, a spokesperson contends. Compliance obligations for downstream companies should be avoided as they are extremely burdensome and costly in case of highly complex supply chains.

The spokesperson adds that extending mandatory due-diligence obligations along the entire supply chain would have a negative impact in the automotive value chain, especially on SMEs (small- and-medium-sized enterprises), putting their competitiveness at risk.

Original post:
European Automakers, EU Debate Mineral Sourcing - Ward's Auto

After a proposal by the European Commission and its adoption by the Council, new more systematic checks have been introduced at the external border of the EU. The reinforced controls have been introduced mainly to counteract the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters and to manage better migration flows. The new rules require that documents must be carefully inspected to check their authenticity, then their information must be cross-checked on the relevant databases (e.g. the Schengen Information System, SIS, and Interpols stolen and lost document system, SLTD). The reinforced controls will be performed both at land border checkpoints and at ports and airports for persons coming from or going to extra-Schengen destinations.

All EU citizens living in the Schengen Area will be subject to these systematic checks when crossing an external Schengen border. The new checks differ from the simple visual check of the ID document performed before the entry into force of the new measures. The entry into force of the new control measures does not impact the free movement of people inside the Schengen Area.

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The European Union introduces more systematic controls at the UE external borders - Lexology (registration)

As those of us who desperately wanted Britain to remain in the European Union lick our wounds, nowis not the time to give up. The Brexiteers, ungracious in victory, may be attempting to silence opposition to the coming divorce, but we must not let that happen.

Opposition to our impending departure from the EU cannot just take the form of angry marches and flagwaving, however. That will make absolutely no difference, not least because mass rallies objecting to a mass vote which we lost look quite ridiculous. No; we must accept where we are, and we mustdig in.

There are still millions of Britons that would like to see the UK remain as a fully signed-up member of the EU, but none of them can stop the Article 50 process now that it has begun. They must, instead, accept that any campaign about Britain and its EU membership will now be about rejoining the union in the future. This is the time to take stock, to plan, and to recommit to the cause.

There is a precedent for such an approach giving birth to unimaginable success. That precedent was here in the UK, and it shows what can be achieved with a never-say-die approach, a willingness to be mocked, and a commitment to the political long-game.

I speak fully aware of the irony of the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union.

Brexit talks: PM welcomes Tusk to Downing Street

For many, many years the idea of Little Old Blighty walking away from Brussels was considered easily as lunatic as a campaign for us to rejoin might seem in 2017. It was a fringe view; it was eccentric.

To realise how far the Brexit rump has come, take a moment to remember Jimmy Goldsmith's Referendum Party, which stood for election in 1997. They were so mad you half expected Louis Theroux to pop up and make a documentary about them. But whos laughing now?

The first clue, of three, in how to rebuild the pro-EU movement lies exactly with the Referendum Party and its bastard child, Ukip. These were one-issue obsessives who could muster committed campaigners, keep the dream alive and ultimately shift the terms of political debate and of public perception of what was possible. The more you repeat something, the more people get used to the idea.

Ukip acted as the provisional wing of the Eurosceptics. They made the Tory Brexiteers seem relatively sensible by comparison.

When it came to the crunch in 2016, where was the provisional wing of the Remain campaign, the equivalent of Leave.EU? Possibly somewhere among the federalists of the Liberal Democrats, but it was silent. Where it did emerge,it seemed embarrassed by its own opinions; possibly because of the success of Ukip in moving the conversation, it became a case of courting ridicule to state an emotional case for enthusiastic membership of the EU.

Second, the Brexiteers had vision. It might not seem like it to the ears of a Europhile, but the Eurosceptics presented an idea of a new, refreshed Britain, while the Remainers stuck endlessly to George Osbornes tired script about economic risk. You, the Independent reader, might not like the idea of return to Little England, but for many this was an idea worth voting for as were taking back control, the Commonwealth free trade zone and an extra 350m a week for the NHS.

What would be vision for a Britain fully engaged in the EU look like? Nobody has even contemplated making that case since Tony Blair and Pater Mandelson tried to sell cafculture to the country in the aftermath of their early landslides.

But neither of those points is as significant as the last lesson from the Brexiteers, and that's patience: the willingness to play the long game.

There are Ukip activists and Conservatives who have been campaigning pretty much full time for Brexit since before the Maastricht rebellions of 1992. The likes of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan appeared not to mind being seen as a bonkers ideologist at the outset, such was their confidence that thismoment would finally arrive. He was almost blindly confident that his time, and the time of his fellow travellers, would come. When nobody believed him, he strode on with absolute confidence. Nigel Farage, John Redwood and the rest were exactly the same.

And then, in 2016, it finally happened. A Tory-led coalition staring over its shoulder at surging Ukip, a horrific civil war in Syria driving vast waves of immigration across Europe, the bite of globalisation's nastier side effects and another euro crisis all combined into a perfect storm. All Hannan's ships had come in at once and he and his colleagues were ready to take full advantage.

When the Europhile's perfect storm will arrive is hard to predict, but it will come. We must be ready in 2020, or 2050. We must be patient. We must be organised. We must set up a provisional wing of the argument. And we must be willing to be ridiculed.

We might even ask Louis Theroux to pop by to follow us around with his film crew.

John Jenkinson a journalist in his late thirties living and working in London

More:
There is a way back into the European Union just ask the Brexiteers how - The Independent

Baghdad, Iraq, 9 April 2017 As fighting in Iraq reaches its peak, urgent humanitarian needs of women and girls impacted by the conflict continue to escalate. At this critical juncture, thanks to the 5 Million additional contribution of the European Commission Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) up-scales its frontline humanitarian response. This includes the provision of lifesaving reproductive health services, in recently re-taken areas of East and West Mosul, and the delivery of first assistance kits to displaced women and girls, from Mosul and other active conflict areas in Iraq.

Through this EU partnership, UNFPA will provide much needed Reproductive Health services to more than 700,000 conflict affected women and girls in Iraq. Furthermore, over 120,000 newly displaced women and girls from Mosul will receive first line relief items, as part of the Rapid Response Mechanism Consortium which also includes UNICEF and World Food Programme (WFP), said Mr. Ramanathan Balakrishnam, UNFPA representative in Iraq.

This generous support from the European Union will contribute to UNFPAs establishment and running of three field maternity hospitals. These facilities will offer safe delivery options and lifesaving obstetric emergency services to conflict affected women from West Mosul.

Bringing back essential health services in conflict affected areas, in Mosul, is a priority for the EU. Pregnant women and displaced women and girls who have survived the hardship of conflict will receive much needed emergency medical services said Mr. Javier Rio-Navarro, EU Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) head of office in Iraq. This EU contribution also supports the procurement and running of two mobile delivery units and two mobile Reproductive Health clinics in retaken districts and neighbourhoods in East and West Mosul, as well as similar services in Anbar, Kirkuk and Salah al-Din governorates.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and every young persons potential is fulfilled.

For more information or media inquiries please contact: Mohamed Megahed; Communication Officer; megahed@unfpa.org

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UNFPA and European Union provide emergency medical care to Women and Girls affected by the conflict in Iraq - ReliefWeb

Nigeria and European Union (EU) are working to have an agreement that will facilitate the repatriation of Nigerians living illegally in EU countries.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, on Sunday in Abuja said that the EU also sought to engage with the government in providing vocational training for those who had been repatriated.

The EU for now, he explained was trying to have a collective agreement with Nigeria covering all the EU countries so that there can just be a one-stop-shop and everybody can repatriate Nigerians.

We are looking to see whether it will not be fairer to just have separate bilateral agreements rather than one omnibus agreement with the EU.

In fact, the EU wants to engage with us in helping to provide vocational training programmes for Nigerians who have been repatriated so that they do not come back, have nothing to do, have no skills and have no choice but try and go back again.

So they are also keen to cooperate with us to provide skills development for them.

The minister noted that the issue of migration had become a priority for most EU countries.

He said it was pertinent to engage with the EU to ensure that the legal rights of Nigerians, be they irregular or regular migrants, are fully respected.

Onyeama dismissed claims that some Nigerians were deported from some countries without the knowledge of the Nigerian Government.

He explained that opportunities were given for migrants to exhaust all legal rights open to them before repatriation.

He said this was in line with bilateral agreements on repatriation which Nigeria had signed with some countries.

The ones from Libya wanted to come home because the conditions in which they were staying were deplorable so it was a question of facilitating their return home.

Of course, you know that Libya is almost a failed state at the moment so it is not advisable for any Nigerian to be in that country at the moment.

With regard to the UK, he said Nigeria had an agreement which stipulates that that country could not deport without Nigerias cooperation.

So, you have to first identify and be sure, we insist, that the person is Nigerian and we insist also that the person has exhausted all their rights.

At the moment, these things stand; it is not possible for the UK to unilaterally repatriate without our cooperation, he said.

The minister further said the government was not oblivious of the economic situation in the country and stressed the need for an enabling environment for all citizens.

The prime responsibility rests with us; we, as a government, have to provide for our citizens and that is what Mr President is trying to do in the restructuring of the economy.

No fewer than 250 Nigerians have been deported from different European countries since January, including the 50 that were repatriated on Thursday from eight countries for immigration-related offences. (NAN)

Read more:
European Union to repatriate Nigerians living illegally in EU countries - Vanguard