Conflict Minerals

Fossil is concerned with the unintentional support of armed conflict through the purchase of certain minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and countries that share its border (“the DRC region”), and conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs).

We understand that armed conflict may be directly or indirectly financed by the trade in certain minerals, and the ores from which they originate. The minerals identified are tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (known as “3TG minerals”). The 3TG minerals are present in the manufacture of a wide variety of commercial products, including some of our products.

Because of our support for the human rights of all people and our concern that materials in our supply chain may be inadvertently used to limit human rights, we are taking steps to understand whether any 3TG minerals that may be contained in our products are used to finance the conflict in the DRC region, and CAHRAs.

Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 requires publicly traded companies to inquire into the origin of 3TG minerals in their supply chains and to report on their due diligence processes and findings in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation states that EU importers of CAHRA-sourced 3TG must provide specified information to their immediate customers and the public. Fossil supports the goal of these regulations to stop the funding of armed conflict, and focus on responsible sourcing.

In line with our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, Fossil is committed not only to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, but also to ethical and responsible conduct in all of our operations and respect for the rights of all individuals. We expect that our business partners will share this commitment.

We will take the following steps to determine the use, source, and origin of 3TG minerals in our global product portfolio across our business segments. We will use a reasonable documented process to:

  • Work closely with our suppliers to determine the potential use of 3TG minerals in our supply chain and, when appropriate, work with them to remediate issues and source more responsibly.
  • Expect our 3TG suppliers to conduct the necessary inquiry and, where appropriate, additional due diligence to provide us with confirmation of the source of the materials used in their processes and ultimately present in our products.
  • Encourage our suppliers to advocate and actively action our philosophy of sourcing 3TG minerals from socially responsible suppliers, including conflict-free mines in the DRC region, and CAHRAs.

We also commit to institute systems, procedures and strong governance processes to ensure proper implementation of these objectives across the company.

Our actions on conflict minerals support and evidence Fossil’s long-term commitment to respect the human rights of all people and to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve.