The SEC announced this week that on October 18, 2011, it will host a public roundtable on the SEC’s proposed rule, Conflict Minerals. The rule was proposed in December 2010 pursuant to Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It would require certain disclosures in a registrant’s Form 10-K or 20-F (collectively “annual reports”) and may require registrants to furnish as exhibits to their annual reports their report on the use of conflict minerals (‘’management’s report”) and the report of an independent private sector auditor on management’s report.

Section 1502 and the proposed rule have garnered a significant amount of attention by numerous parties, and in comment letters to the SEC, constituents have questioned how several of the proposed rule’s requirements would be implemented. The panel discussions will allow for views of key constituents to be expressed and “will focus on key regulatory issues such as appropriate reporting approaches for the final rule, challenges in tracking conflict minerals through the supply chain, and workable due diligence and other requirements related to the rulemaking.”

A final agenda will be available closer to the date of the roundtable. For additional information, see the press release on the SEC’s Web site.