This week the SEC adopted section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank disaster; a well-intentioned but definitely misguided “conflict minerals” provision, that the Wall Street Journal called a case study of “regulatory mission creep.”

Not to be confused with “underwear creep” – which is localized – and much less insidious. (Sorry, it’s late and I’m getting slap-happy.)

 
“Conflict minerals” are those mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses. There are presently four that meet this designation: cassiterite, wolframite, coltan, and gold. These minerals are used in the manufacture of a variety of devices, especially consumer electronics.
 
Section 1502 of the The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is specifically directed at the Democrat Republic of Congo (DRC), a nation troubled for years by civil war, famine and widespread disease. When it comes to natural resources, the country’s untapped deposits of raw minerals make it the richest country in the world. Yet its people are among the poorest. (Can you say “government corruption?”)
 

 
As Heritage’s Foundry reports, section 1502;

… requires private companies (of any size) to disclose whether any “conflict minerals” that are necessary to the functionality or production of a product have “originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country.” The law imposes what seem to be onerous and expensive due diligence reporting requirements on those private companies, including the establishment of a “chain of custody of those minerals” that must be independently audited.

 
Todd Moss at the Center for Global Development explains that the simplistic premise behind 1502 is; mining income must fuel violence in DRC so why not just cut off that money and thus end the killings.
 
Sounds good right? Except that the SEC estimates that complying with the regulation’s requirements will cost U.S. business between $9 billion and $16 billion. Just what we need, more job-killing legislation.
 
Ah, but what about the beleaguered Congolese, the purported beneficiaries of 1502? Laura Seay, assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College, recognized for her knowledge of African geo-political affairs, had this to say back in January, seven months before the section was even adopted:

Although its provisions have yet to be implemented, section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is already having a profound effect on the Congolese mining sector. Nicknamed “Obama’s Law” by the Congolese, section 1502 has created a de facto ban on Congolese mineral exports, put anywhere from tens of thousands up to 2 million Congolese miners out of work in the eastern Congo, and, despite ending most of the trade in Congolese conflict minerals, done little to improve the security situation or the daily lives of most Congolese….

 
If the bureaucrats in Congress, the “Central Planners” as Hayek called them, were actually capable of having good intentions, Dodd-Frank would certainly confirm the truth of the old saying about the road to Hell.