WeComply, Inc., a Thomson Reuters business and leader in web-based ethics and compliance training, has announced an updated version of its Conflict Minerals training course. The course covers the fundamentals of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Conflict Minerals Rule and reflects the April 14, 2014 federal court ruling that limits some of the disclosure requirements.

The Conflict Minerals Rule was enacted in 2012 to encourage companies to strengthen their controls over how and where they obtain certain minerals that often finance armed groups responsible for extreme violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries.

Under the Rule, publicly traded companies that use “conflict minerals” (such as tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold) in their products are required to disclose the origin of those minerals. The Rule applies to companies in many industries including technology, aerospace, automotive and consumer goods. The deadline for companies to file their first disclosure form and any related conflict minerals report was June 2.

In National Association of Manufacturers, et al. v. SEC, et al., three business groups challenged the Rule, claiming it violates their free speech rights by essentially forcing them to condemn their own products.

While the court left the majority of the SEC rule untouched, it struck down parts of the regulation mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. Companies are no longer required to describe their products in their disclosures to the SEC — or on their website — as "DRC conflict free," having "not been found to be 'DRC conflict free'" or "DRC conflict undeterminable." The SEC updated its frequently asked questions and guidelines on its disclosure requirements.

WeComply’s updated course begins with an overview of the Conflict Minerals Rule and an explanation of conflict minerals compliance. The course explores how to determine whether the Rule applies, what employees need to know about conflict minerals in the supply chain, as well as the due-diligence and reporting requirements of the Rule. The course concludes with a discussion of the costs and consequences of non-compliance to companies, employees and officers.

“Our new Conflict Minerals course takes the recent court ruling into account and reflects new guidelines for how companies describe their products in their disclosures to the SEC,” said Steve Perreault, Global Head of eLearning. “This course is an important training tool for any company that uses conflict minerals — or metals derived from them — in its products or any part of its supply chain.”

For more information, please visit WeComply’s Conflict Minerals Course.

About WeComply: WeComply, a Thomson Reuters business, is a leading provider of ethics and compliance training for employees in all industries and offers more than 100 courses that are easily customized and available in multiple languages both online and offline.

Companies can host courses in their own Learning Management System (LMS) or use WeComply's patented system, which provides centralized administration, custom reporting and other advanced features. WeComply is the exclusive compliance training partner of the ACC Alliance and forms part of the Thomson Reuters Accelus offering of market-leading solutions for enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) management. For more information, visit http://www.wecomply.com.