back to article EU parliament pushes for Dodd-Frank style conflict mineral laws

European electronics manufacturers will have to double check where the minerals in their products come from in future, according to a draft EU law approved by MEPs on Wednesday. The law, adopted by 402 votes to 118, is part of an effort to clamp down on so-called conflict minerals, so that European companies and consumers do …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Despite everyone's best efforts, a law may not cut the importation of conflict minerals into Europe. "

    It seems rather inconceivable that such a law would not cut the importation of conflict minerals at all, which is what you are suggesting.

    1. All names Taken
      Alien

      A law is a law is a ...

      ... law.

      Passing a law does not automatically imply that people will uphold the law nor does it infer that those not upholding the law will somehow meet with some justifiable sort of justice (or in some cases: punishments)?

      A law is only an authorised form of words on paper, to be meaningful it, the law that is, requires support and nourishments?

      And assuming the law falls in a nation or state then the mechanisms to make the law "real" rest within that nation or state. If the law reaches across national or state boundaries well, that is a whole complicated bit of other businesses?

      1. Mark 85

        Re: A law is a law is a ...

        Exactly. And since the paperwork merely requires "certification" who verifies the credentials of the certifier? This is going to get really complex and expensive to monitor, real fast. Not saying it shouldn't be done, but there are those who will work the system against itself for personal profit.

  2. x 7

    it will never work. Too many companies involved, most of whom will totally ignore the regulations. Besides which its totally impractical. All it really is, is yet another set of regulations which will tie western manufacturing up in knots, while the Chinese, Indians, Koreans et al carry on as before, unencumbered.

    Remember, China is crying out for metals. Whatever we don't buy, they will. From anywhere

    1. All names Taken
      Alien

      To be fair though they do take a different approach to obtaining overseas resources such as investing into the source nation itself?

    2. Olius

      I remember a similar argument about how tracking food ingredients was futile. Apart from the odd transgression, it seems to have worked.

      1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

        Is "transgression" Latin for horse?

  3. Tom Malcolmson

    Ask Tim

    Didn't Tim Worstall rubbish this idea on El Reg some time ago?

    1. Olius

      Re: Ask Tim

      This comment could be posted on a lot of subjects.

    2. Tim Worstal

      Re: Ask Tim

      Several times in fact. Haven't seen the version they did vote for here. Wouldn't surprise me if it was the worst and most expensive.

  4. asdf

    sigh

    Yes politicians are the masters of 1984 type double speak (see "Patriot" act that tramples constitution) but the "Dodd Frank" law supposedly fixing everything takes the cake what with those two finance industry bought off asshats being about as responsible for the housing bubble collapse as any other person in government not named Greenspan.

    1. strum

      Re: sigh

      >those two finance industry bought off asshats being about as responsible for the housing bubble collapse

      Poppycock. All that (the original) Dodd-Frank law did was remove the artificial, geographic restraints on lending which had existed before. It didn't mandate the widespread mortgage brokerage fraud, nor the frankly insane way these mortgages were sliced'n'diced and repackaged and resold as prime products.

      In fact, it didn't force anyone to write a single mortgage they didn't want to.

      You have fallen for a media campaign (largely waged by financial journos who talked up the bubble in the first place).

      1. Tom 13

        @strum

        You're the one spouting DNC Kool-Aid.

        It was known at the time that the bill would force banks to make loans that couldn't be repaid. They didn't need to mandate it in Dodd-Frank. It was already in the banking law, but the geographic areas put a limit on how much damage it could do to the system as a whole. Since it was provable that the banking officers should have known the loans could not be repaid (the risk analysis software said so, they were made to meet race quotas*), the only logical thing to do was slice and dice it into MBSs. Which might have worked if the MBSs hadn't then been overvalued.

        *specifically, if you use the software to evaluate the risk of the loan and didn't include race data, the loan came up bad. But since the end result was a high number of inner city blacks couldn't get loans it was labeled "racist" to not take the race of the loan recipient into account. And yes, the banking regulators had plenty of ways to inhibit non-compliant banks operations without ever setting foot in a courtroom.

      2. asdf

        Re: sigh

        "In June 2008 Conde Nast Portfolio reported that numerous Washington, DC politicians over recent years had received mortgage financing at noncompetitive rates at Countrywide Financial because the corporation placed the officeholders in a program called "FOA's"--"Friends of Angelo", Countrywide's Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo. The politicians extended such favorable financing included the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd (D-CT)"

        Keep believing the banks weren't practicing the definition of regulatory capture starting at the top with the two main committee chairmen in Congress (Dodd, Frank) overseeing them. And yes it was bipartisan with plenty of GOP involved as well but with them at least you expect that.

  5. Tom 13

    Here's a free clue from a Merkin:

    If any proposed legislation is ever modeled on something called Dodd-Frank in the US, shoot the people who proposed it. It's doomed to end up in a failure costing more than the sin it is alleged to fix.

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