Exhibit 1.01
Introduction
Smith & Nephew plc, also referred to as “Smith & Nephew”, the “company”, “we”, “our”, and “us” is a global medical technology business. We have products in the following fields: Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities.
This Conflict Minerals Report (“CMR”) for the year ended December 31, 2022, is presented to comply with Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Rule”) and Form SD. The Rule imposes certain reporting obligations on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issuers whose manufactured products contain certain minerals which are necessary to the functionality or production of their products. These minerals are cassiterite, columbite-tantalite (coltan), gold, wolframite, and their derivatives, which are limited to tin, tantalum and tungsten (collectively, “3TG” or “Conflict Minerals”). The Rule focuses on 3TG emanating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”) region and nine adjoining countries (together, the “Covered Countries”). If an issuer has reason to believe that any of the Conflict Minerals in their supply chain may have originated in the Covered Countries, or if they are unable to determine the country of origin of those Conflict Minerals, then the issuer must exercise due diligence on the Conflict Minerals’ source and chain of custody and submit a CMR to the SEC that includes a description of those due diligence measures.
This CMR relates to the process undertaken for Smith & Nephew products that were manufactured, or contracted to be manufactured, during calendar year 2022 and that contain Conflict Minerals. Third party products that Smith & Nephew sells but does not manufacture or contract to manufacture are outside the scope of this CMR.
Executive Summary
Smith & Nephew performed a Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry (“RCOI”) on suppliers believed to provide Smith & Nephew with materials or components containing 3TGs necessary to the functionality or production of Smith & Nephew’s products. Smith & Nephew’s suppliers identified 286 valid smelters and refineries (“smelters”) in their supply chains. Of these 286 smelters, Smith & Nephew identified 34 as sourcing (or there was a reason to believe they may be sourcing) from the DRC or adjoining countries (collectively called the “Covered Countries”). Smith & Nephew’s due diligence review indicated that all 34 of these smelters have been audited and recognized as conflict free by the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (“RMAP). The CMR was subject to an independent private sector audit report (“IPSA”) conducted by Resource Consulting Services Limited (“RCS Global”) in accordance with the requirements of the Rule, the audit report for which is attached as Exhibit A to the CMR.
Based on these results, Smith & Nephew is DRC Conflict Free for the 2022 reporting period.
Company Management Systems
Smith & Nephew established strong management systems according to Step 1 of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance. Smith & Nephew’s systems included
| • | Step 1A - Adopt, and clearly communicate to suppliers and the public, a company policy for the supply chain of minerals originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. |
| • | Implemented a conflict minerals policy |
| • | Policy made publicly available |
| • | http://www.smith-nephew.com/sustainability/policies/conflict-minerals/conflict-minerals-policy/ |
| • | Policy communicated directly to suppliers as part of RCOI process |
| • | Step 1B - Structure internal management to support supply chain due diligence |
| • | Maintained an internal cross functional team to support supply chain due diligence. |
| • | Appointed a member of the senior staff with the necessary competence, knowledge, and experience to oversee supply chain due diligence. |
| • | Applied the resources necessary to support the operation and monitoring of these processes including internal resources and external consulting support. |
| • | Step 1C - Establish a system of transparency, information collection and control over the supply chain |
| • | Implemented a process to collect required supplier and smelter RCOI and due diligence data. Full details on the supply chain data gathering are included in the RCOI and due diligence sections of this CMR. |
| • | Step 1D - Strengthen company engagement with suppliers |
| • | Directly engaged suppliers during RCOI process. |
| • | Reviewed supplier responses as part of RCOI process. |
| • | Added conflict minerals compliance to new supplier contracts and Smith & Nephew’s supplier code of conduct. |
| • | Implemented a plan to improve the quantity and quality of supplier and smelter responses year over year. |
| • | Step 1E - Establish a company and/or mine level grievance mechanism. |
| • | Recognized the RMAP’s three audit protocols for gold, tin/tantalum, and tungsten as valid sources of smelter or mine level grievances. |
| • | Smith & Nephew’s ethics violations reporting system allows employees to voice confidentially without any fear of retribution, any concerns with the violations of the Smith & Nephew’s conflict minerals policy. |
Reasonable Country of Origin Inquiry (RCOI)
Smith & Nephew designed its RCOI process in accordance with Step 2A and 2B of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance. Smith & Nephew’s RCOI process involved two stages:
| • | Stage 1 - Supplier RCOI (Step 2A of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance) |
| • | Stage 2 - Smelter RCOI (Step 2B of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance) |
Supplier RCOI
Smith & Nephew designed its supplier RCOI process to identify, to the best of Smith & Nephew’s efforts, the smelters in Smith & Nephew’s supply chain in accordance with Step 2A of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance. Smith & Nephew’s supplier RCOI process for the 2022 reporting period included the following -
| • | Developing a list of suppliers providing 3TG containing components to Smith & Nephew. |
| • | Contacting each supplier and requesting the industry standard Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (“CMRT”) including smelter information. |
| • | Reviewing supplier responses for accuracy and completeness. |
| • | Amalgamating supplier provided smelters into a single unique list of smelters meeting the definition of a smelter under one of three industry recognized audit protocols. |
| • | Reviewing the final smelter list (and compared it to industry peers) to determine if Smith & Nephew identified reasonably all of the smelters in their supply chain. |
For the 2022 reporting period, Smith & Nephew’s RCOI process was executed by Claigan Environmental Inc. (“Claigan”).
Smith & Nephew’s suppliers identified 286 smelters in their supply chain. The specific list of smelters is included in the “Smelter and Refineries” section at the end of this CMR.
Smelter RCOI
Due to the overlap between smelter RCOI and smelter due diligence, the smelter RCOI process is summarized in the due diligence section of this CMR.
Due Diligence
Smith & Nephew’s Due Diligence Process was designed in accordance with the applicable sections of Steps 2, 3, and 4 of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance.
Smelter RCOI and Due Diligence
Smith & Nephew’s smelter RCOI and due diligence process were designed to
| • | Identify the scope of the risk assessment of the mineral supply chain (OECD Step 2B). |
| • | Assess whether the smelters/refiners have carried out all elements of due diligence for responsible supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (OECD Step 2C). |
| • | Where necessary, carry out, including through participation in industry-driven programs, joint spot checks at the mineral smelter/refiner’s own facilities (OECD Step 2D). |
Smith & Nephew’s smelter RCOI and Due Diligence Process included the following -
| • | For each smelter identified in Smith & Nephew’s supply chain |
| • | Smith & Nephew attempted direct engagement with the smelter to determine whether or not the smelter sources from the Covered Countries. |
| • | For smelters that declared directly (e.g. email correspondence, publicly available conflict minerals policy, or information available on their website) or through their relevant industry association that they did not source from the Covered Countries, and were not recognized as conflict free by the RMAP, Smith & Nephew reviewed publicly available information to determine if there was any contrary evidence to the smelter’s declaration. The sources reviewed included |
| • | Public internet search (e.g., Google) of the facility in combination with each of the Covered Countries |
| • | Review of specific NGO publications. NGO publications reviewed included |
| • | Enough Project |
| • | Global Witness |
| • | Southern Africa Resource Watch |
| • | Radio Okapi |
| • | The most recent UN Group of Experts report on the DRC |
| • | For smelters that did not respond to direct engagement, Smith & Nephew reviewed publicly available sources to determine if there was any reason to believe that the smelter may have sourced from the Covered Countries during the reporting period. |
| • | Smith & Nephew reviewed the same sources as those used to compare against smelter sourcing declarations. |
| • | For high-risk smelters (smelters that are sourcing from or there is reason to believe they may be sourcing from the Covered Countries), Smith & Nephew requires the smelter be audited and recognized as conflict free by the RMAP. |
| • | For high-risk smelters that have not been audited and recognized as conflict free by the RMAP, Smith & Nephew communicates the risk to a designated member of senior management (OECD Step 3A) and conducts risk mitigation on the smelter according to OECD Step 3B. |
For the 2022 reporting period, Smith & Nephew’s smelter RCOI and due diligence process was executed by Claigan.
Smith & Nephew’s suppliers identified 286 smelters in their supply chain. Smith & Nephew identified 34 smelters that source, or there is a reason to believe they may source, from the Covered Countries. Smith & Nephew determined that all 34 of these smelters have been audited and recognized as conflict free by the RMAP.
Improvement Plan
Smith & Nephew is taking and will continue to take the following steps to improve the due diligence conducted to further mitigate risk that the necessary conflict minerals in Smith & Nephew’s products could directly or indirectly benefit or finance armed groups in the Covered Countries:
a. Including a conflict minerals clause in all new and renewing supplier contracts.
b. Continuing to drive its suppliers to obtain current, accurate, and complete information about the smelters in their supply chain.
c. Engaging smelters sourcing from the Covered Countries to be audited and certified to a protocol recognized by the RMAP.
d. Follow up in 2023 on smelters requiring risk mitigation, but not removal from Smith & Nephew’s supply chain.
Smelters and Refineries
Below are the smelters reported to Smith & Nephew as likely in Smith & Nephew’s supply chain in the 2022 reporting period.
| Metal | Smelter |
| Gold | 8853 S.p.A. |
| Gold | Abington Reldan Metals, LLC |
| Gold | Advanced Chemical Company |
| Gold | Agosi AG |
| Gold | Aida Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Al Etihad Gold Refinery DMCC |
| Gold | Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex (AMMC) |
| Gold | AngloGold Ashanti Córrego do Sítio Mineração |
| Gold | Argor-Heraeus S.A. |
| Gold | Asahi Pretec Corp. |
| Gold | Asahi Refining Canada Ltd. |
| Gold | Asahi Refining USA Inc. |
| Gold | Asaka Riken Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Atasay Kuyumculuk Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. |
| Gold | AU Traders and Refiners |
| Gold | Aurubis AG |
| Gold | Bangalore Refinery |
| Gold | Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) |
| Gold | Boliden AB |
| Gold | C. Hafner GmbH + Co. KG |
| Gold | C.I Metales Procesados Industriales SAS |
| Gold | Caridad |
| Gold | CCR Refinery - Glencore Canada Corporation |
| Gold | Cendres + Métaux S.A. |
| Gold | Chimet S.p.A. |
| Gold | Chugai Mining |
| Gold | Daye Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Ltd. |
| Gold | Degussa Sonne / Mond Goldhandel GmbH |
| Gold | Dowa |
| Gold | DSC (Do Sung Corporation) |
| Gold | Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. East Plant |
| Gold | Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. North Plant |
| Gold | Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. West Plant |
| Gold | Emirates Gold DMCC |
| Gold | Geib Refining Corporation |
| Gold | GGC Gujrat Gold Centre Pvt. Ltd. |
| Gold | Gold Refinery of Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Great Wall Precious Metals Co., Ltd. of CBPM |
| Gold | Guangdong Jinding Gold Limited |
| Gold | Guoda Safina High-Tech Environmental Refinery Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Hangzhou Fuchunjiang Smelting Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Heimerle + Meule GmbH |
| Gold | Heraeus Germany GmbH Co. KG |
| Gold | Heraeus Metals Hong Kong Ltd. |
| Gold | Hunan Chenzhou Mining Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | HwaSeong CJ Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Inner Mongolia Qiankun Gold and Silver Refinery Share Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Ishifuku Metal Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Istanbul Gold Refinery |
| Gold | Italpreziosi |
| Gold | Japan Mint |
| Gold | Jiangxi Copper Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | JSC Ekaterinburg Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Plant |
| Gold | JSC Novosibirsk Refinery |
| Gold | JSC Uralelectromed |
| Gold | JX Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Kazakhmys Smelting LLC |
| Gold | Kazzinc |
| Gold | Kennecott Utah Copper LLC |
| Gold | KGHM Polska Miedź Spółka Akcyjna |
| Gold | Kojima Chemicals Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Kyrgyzaltyn JSC |
| Gold | Kyshtym Copper-Electrolytic Plant ZAO |
| Gold | L'azurde Company For Jewelry |
| Gold | L'Orfebre S.A. |
| Gold | Lingbao Gold Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Lingbao Jinyuan Tonghui Refinery Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | LS-NIKKO Copper Inc. |
| Gold | LT Metal Ltd. |
| Gold | Luoyang Zijin Yinhui Gold Refinery Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Marsam Metals |
| Gold | Materion |
| Gold | Matsuda Sangyo Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Metal Concentrators SA (Pty) Ltd. |
| Gold | Metalor Technologies (Hong Kong) Ltd. |
| Gold | Metalor Technologies (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. |
| Gold | Metalor Technologies (Suzhou) Ltd. |
| Gold | Metalor Technologies S.A. |
| Gold | Metalor USA Refining Corporation |
| Gold | Metalúrgica Met-Mex Peñoles S.A. De C.V. |
| Gold | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation |
| Gold | Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | MKS PAMP SA |
| Gold | MMTC-PAMP India Pvt., Ltd. |
| Gold | Modeltech Sdn Bhd |
| Gold | Morris and Watson |
| Gold | Moscow Special Alloys Processing Plant |
| Gold | Nadir Metal Rafineri San. Ve Tic. A.Ş. |
| Gold | Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat |
| Gold | NH Recytech Company |
| Gold | Nihon Material Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Ögussa Österreichische Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt GmbH |
| Gold | Ohura Precious Metal Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | OJSC "The Gulidov Krasnoyarsk Non-Ferrous Metals Plant" (OJSC Krastsvetmet) |
| Gold | Pease & Curren |
| Gold | Penglai Penggang Gold Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Planta Recuperadora de Metales SpA |
| Gold | Prioksky Plant of Non-Ferrous Metals |
| Gold | PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk |
| Gold | PX Précinox S.A. |
| Gold | Rand Refinery (Pty) Ltd. |
| Gold | Refinery of Seemine Gold Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | REMONDIS PMR B.V. |
| Gold | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Gold | SAAMP |
| Gold | Sabin Metal Corp. |
| Gold | Safimet S.p.A |
| Gold | SAFINA A.S. |
| Gold | Sai Refinery |
| Gold | Samduck Precious Metals |
| Gold | SAMWON Metals Corp. |
| Gold | SEMPSA Joyería Platería S.A. |
| Gold | Shandong Gold Smelting Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Shandong Tiancheng Biological Gold Industrial Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Shandong Zhaojin Gold & Silver Refinery Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Sichuan Tianze Precious Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Singway Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | SOE Shyolkovsky Factory of Secondary Precious Metals |
| Gold | Solar Applied Materials Technology Corp. |
| Gold | State Research Institute Center for Physical Sciences and Technology |
| Gold | Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | SungEel HiMetal Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | T.C.A S.p.A |
| Gold | Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. |
| Gold | Tokuriki Honten Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | TOO Tau-Ken-Altyn |
| Gold | Torecom |
| Gold | Umicore Precious Metals Thailand |
| Gold | Umicore S.A. Business Unit Precious Metals Refining |
| Gold | United Precious Metal Refining, Inc. |
| Gold | Valcambi S.A. |
| Gold | Western Australian Mint (T/a The Perth Mint) |
| Gold | WIELAND Edelmetalle GmbH |
| Gold | Yamakin Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Yokohama Metal Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Yunnan Copper Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Gold | Zhongyuan Gold Smelter of Zhongjin Gold Corporation |
| Tantalum | AMG Brasil |
| Tantalum | Changsha South Tantalum Niobium Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | D Block Metals, LLC |
| Tantalum | F&X Electro-Materials Ltd. |
| Tantalum | FIR Metals & Resource Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Global Advanced Metals Aizu |
| Tantalum | Global Advanced Metals Boyertown |
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck Hermsdorf GmbH |
| Tantalum | Hengyang King Xing Lifeng New Materials Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Jiangxi Dinghai Tantalum & Niobium Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Jiangxi Tuohong New Raw Material |
| Tantalum | JiuJiang JinXin Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Jiujiang Tanbre Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Jiujiang Zhongao Tantalum & Niobium Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | KEMET de Mexico |
| Tantalum | Materion Newton Inc. |
| Tantalum | Metallurgical Products India Pvt., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Mineração Taboca S.A. |
| Tantalum | Mitsui Mining & Smelting |
| Tantalum | Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | NPM Silmet AS |
| Tantalum | QuantumClean |
| Tantalum | Resind Indústria e Comércio Ltda. |
| Tantalum | Solikamsk Magnesium Works OAO |
| Tantalum | Taki Chemical Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | TANIOBIS Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | TANIOBIS GmbH |
| Tantalum | TANIOBIS Japan Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | TANIOBIS Smelting GmbH & Co. KG |
| Tantalum | Telex Metals |
| Tantalum | Ulba Metallurgical Plant JSC |
| Tantalum | XIMEI RESOURCES (GUANGDONG) LIMITED |
| Tantalum | XinXing HaoRong Electronic Material Co., Ltd. |
| Tantalum | Yanling Jincheng Tantalum & Niobium Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Alpha |
| Tin | An Vinh Joint Stock Mineral Processing Company |
| Tin | Aurubis Beerse |
| Tin | Aurubis Berango |
| Tin | Chenzhou Yunxiang Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Chifeng Dajingzi Tin Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | China Tin Group Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | CRM Synergies |
| Tin | CV Venus Inti Perkasa |
| Tin | Dowa |
| Tin | Electro-Mechanical Facility of the Cao Bang Minerals & Metallurgy Joint Stock Company |
| Tin | EM Vinto |
| Tin | Estanho de Rondônia S.A. |
| Tin | Fabrica Auricchio Industria e Comercio Ltda. |
| Tin | Fenix Metals |
| Tin | Gejiu Kai Meng Industry and Trade LLC |
| Tin | Gejiu Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Gejiu Yunxin Nonferrous Electrolysis Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Gejiu Zili Mining And Metallurgy Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Guangdong Hanhe Non-Ferrous Metal Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Jiangxi New Nanshan Technology Ltd. |
| Tin | Luna Smelter, Ltd. |
| Tin | Magnu's Minerais Metais e Ligas Ltda. |
| Tin | Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC) |
| Tin | Melt Metais e Ligas S.A. |
| Tin | Metallic Resources, Inc. |
| Tin | Mineração Taboca S.A. |
| Tin | Minsur |
| Tin | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation |
| Tin | Modeltech Sdn Bhd |
| Tin | Nghe Tinh Non-Ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company |
| Tin | O.M. Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | O.M. Manufacturing Philippines, Inc. |
| Tin | Operaciones Metalúrgicas S.A. |
| Tin | PT Aries Kencana Sejahtera |
| Tin | PT Artha Cipta Langgeng |
| Tin | PT ATD Makmur Mandiri Jaya |
| Tin | PT Babel Inti Perkasa |
| Tin | PT Babel Surya Alam Lestari |
| Tin | PT Bangka Prima Tin |
| Tin | PT Bangka Serumpun |
| Tin | PT Bangka Tin Industry |
| Tin | PT Belitung Industri Sejahtera |
| Tin | PT Bukit Timah |
| Tin | PT Cipta Persada Mulia |
| Tin | PT Menara Cipta Mulia |
| Tin | PT Mitra Stania Prima |
| Tin | PT Mitra Sukses Globalindo |
| Tin | PT Panca Mega Persada |
| Tin | PT Premium Tin Indonesia |
| Tin | PT Prima Timah Utama |
| Tin | PT Rajawali Rimba Perkasa |
| Tin | PT Refined Bangka Tin |
| Tin | PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa |
| Tin | PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa |
| Tin | PT Sukses Inti Makmur |
| Tin | PT Timah Nusantara |
| Tin | PT Timah Tbk Kundur |
| Tin | PT Timah Tbk Mentok |
| Tin | PT Tinindo Inter Nusa |
| Tin | PT Tommy Utama |
| Tin | Resind Indústria e Comércio Ltda. |
| Tin | Rui Da Hung |
| Tin | Super Ligas |
| Tin | Thaisarco |
| Tin | Tin Smelting Branch of Yunnan Tin Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Tin Technology & Refining |
| Tin | Tuyen Quang Non-Ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company |
| Tin | White Solder Metalurgia e Mineração Ltda. |
| Tin | Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Tin | Yunnan Yunfan Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | A.L.M.T. Corp. |
| Tungsten | ACL Metais Eireli |
| Tungsten | Albasteel Industria e Comercio de Ligas Para Fundicao Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Asia Tungsten Products Vietnam Ltd. |
| Tungsten | China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Cronimet Brasil Ltda |
| Tungsten | Fujian Ganmin RareMetal Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Fujian Xinlu Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Ganzhou Haichuang Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Ganzhou Huaxing Tungsten Products Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Ganzhou Jiangwu Ferrotungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Ganzhou Seadragon W & Mo Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. |
| Tungsten | Guangdong Xianglu Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH |
| Tungsten | Hunan Chenzhou Mining Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Hunan Jintai New Material Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Hunan Shizhuyuan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. Chenzhou Tungsten Products Branch |
| Tungsten | Hydrometallurg, JSC |
| Tungsten | Japan New Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Jiangwu H.C. Starck Tungsten Products Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Jiangxi Gan Bei Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Jiangxi Minmetals Gao'an Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Jiangxi Tonggu Non-ferrous Metallurgical & Chemical Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Jiangxi Xinsheng Tungsten Industry Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Jiangxi Yaosheng Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | JSC "Kirovgrad Hard Alloys Plant" |
| Tungsten | Kennametal Fallon |
| Tungsten | Kennametal Huntsville |
| Tungsten | Lianyou Metals Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Malipo Haiyu Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Masan High-Tech Materials |
| Tungsten | Moliren Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Niagara Refining LLC |
| Tungsten | Philippine Chuangxin Industrial Co., Inc. |
| Tungsten | TANIOBIS Smelting GmbH & Co. KG |
| Tungsten | Unecha Refractory Metals Plant |
| Tungsten | Wolfram Bergbau und Hütten AG |
| Tungsten | Xiamen Tungsten (H.C.) Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd. |
| Tungsten | Xinfeng Huarui Tungsten & Molybdenum New Material Co., Ltd. |
Thirty-four of the smelters above declared to be sourcing or there was reason to believe are sourcing from the Covered Countries. Under the SEC Final Rule, the requirement is to identify whether or not a smelter is sourcing from the Covered Countries; there is no requirement to identify the specific covered country by the smelter. Given the limitation on the specificity of the smelters’ disclosures, the identified Covered Countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania.
Exhibit A
INDEPENDENT PRIVATE SECTOR AUDIT REPORT
DODD FRANK WALL STREET REFORM AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, SECTION 1502
SMITH & NEPHEW PLC
To the Board of Directors
RCS Global Ltd (“RCS Global” or “RCS”) conducted an Independent Private Sector Audit (IPSA) of SMITH & NEPHEW PLC (“the Company”) Conflict Minerals Report for the reporting period of January 1 to December 31, 2022. We examined evidence relating to the audit objectives set forth in 17 CFR Part 249b.400, Section 1, Item 1.01, which state that the auditor is to express an opinion or conclusion as to:
1) Whether the design of the Company’s due diligence framework as set forth in Sections on Company Management Systems and Due Diligence the Conflict Minerals Report for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2022, is in conformity, in all material respects, with the criteria set forth in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, Third Edition 2016 (“OECD Guidance”), and
2) Whether the Company’s description of the due diligence measures it performed, as set forth in the Section on Due Diligence in the Conflict Minerals Report for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2022, is consistent with the due diligence process that the Company undertook.
Management is responsible for the design of the Company’s due diligence framework and the description of the Company’s due diligence measures set forth in the Conflict Minerals Report, and performance of the due diligence measures. The opinion or conclusion in this audit report is in relation to the 2 audit objectives. These audit objectives are narrowly defined and do not include the auditor’s opinion on:
| • | The consistency of the due diligence measures that the Company performed with either the design of the Company’s due diligence framework or the OECD Due Diligence Guidance. |
| • | The completeness of the Company’s description of the due diligence measures performed. |
| • | The suitability of the design or operating effectiveness of the Company’s due diligence process. |
| • | The Company’s reasonable country of origin inquiry (RCOI), including the suitability of the design of the RCOI, its operating effectiveness, or the results thereof. |
| • | The Company’s conclusions about the source or chain of custody of its conflict minerals, those products subject to due diligence, or the DRC Conflict Free status of its products. |
Consequently, we do not express an opinion or conclusion on the matters listed above or any other matters included in any section of the Conflict Minerals Report other than the design of the Company’s due diligence framework and the Company’s description of the due diligence measures it performed as set forth in the Sections mentioned in the audit objectives.
We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards, in particular Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 of the U.S. Government Accountability Office Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, Revision of December 2011. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
For the first audit objective, we reviewed policies, processes and procedures describing the design of the due diligence framework and conducted interviews with the persons directly responsible for the conflict minerals program and the design of the due diligence framework at the Company. For the second audit objective, we reviewed records supporting the implementation of due diligence measures as described in the Conflict Minerals Report and conducted interviews with the persons of the Company involved in the implementation of these measures. For the second audit objective, we adopted a sampling approach for the review of records, taking into account the type of mineral, the total population as well as type and level of risk associated with sourcing practices of supply chain actors.
We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings based on our audit objectives.
Management was provided an opportunity to review and offer comments on a draft of this report and had no comments to the draft report.
In our opinion,
| ● | The design of the Company’s due diligence framework for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2022, as set forth in the Conflict Minerals Report is in conformity, in all material respects, with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, and |
| ● | The Company’s description of the due diligence measures it performed as set forth in the Conflict Minerals Report for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2022, is consistent with the due diligence process that the Company undertook. |
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RCS Global Ltd
London, 9th of March 2023
Alejandro López
Auditor
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