Emcore’s due diligence measures have been designed to conform in all material respects to the internationally-recognized due diligence framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (OECD, 2011), and its related supplements. This OECD framework (“Framework”) is the only due diligence framework recognized by the SEC to date. The Framework stresses five main areas of Due Diligence design, detailed below in 1(i)(a)-(e), respectively.

First, Emcore has assigned a supply chain manager to (i) manage the Conflict Minerals compliance program, (ii) liaise with the Consultant, (iii) conduct reviews of collected data, and (iv) make decisions regarding the due diligence program, including risk mitigation. Second, Emcore has requested that suppliers of goods incorporated into our products provide us with Conflict Mineral declarations for their products (see below, §§ 1(i)(b & c)). Third, Emcore’s position statement with respect to Conflict Minerals, which is located on our website (at http://www.emcore.com/wp-content/uploads/EMCORE-Conflict-Minerals-Policy-Statement.pdf), encourages our suppliers to source responsibly, through their sub-suppliers and on down through their own supply chains. In this position statement, we encourage our suppliers and their sub-suppliers to use Conflict-Free Smelter (“CFS”) certified smelters wherever possible, to increase our level of confidence that Emcore products are DRC Conflict Free. (Under this CFS program, the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition (“EICC”) and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (“GeSI”) are jointly taking action to address responsible sourcing, using independent third-party audits to identify smelters and refiners that have systems in place to assure sourcing of only conflict-free materials.)

To obtain chain of custody declarations from our suppliers, we utilize a mechanism common in the technology industry: the Conflict Minerals template from EICC and GeSI (the “EICC template”). This EICC template is distributed to all of our suppliers, with regular and persistent follow-ups (“Escalations”) to ensure maximum compliance and feedback. The EICC template includes questions on (i) the use and origin of Conflict Minerals in our components, (ii) supplier engagement with their sub-tier suppliers, and (iii) smelters and points of origin of the constituent Conflict Minerals. An “Upstream Supply Chain Communication Kit on Conflict Minerals” is provided to all suppliers to prepare them ahead of time for full compliance with this, our principal information-gathering step on the origins of Conflict Minerals contained in components and materials supplied to us. This kit includes materials to educate suppliers about the SEC rule on Conflict Minerals, responsible supply chain management, and a letter that suppliers can use if they need to request information from their sub-tier suppliers.

To date, we have not carried out any independent third party audits to verify the implementation of either our supplying manufacturers’ or smelters’ due diligence practices for responsible supply chains of 3TG from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. (Note that this § 1(i)(d) does not address the question of independent private sector audits of this CMR. The two-year exemption from the latter requirement is addressed in § 1(ii), below.)

2.     Product Description

See Schedule 1 for a list of the smelters/refiners that can be identified (based on our manufacturers’ declarations) as facilities that process 3TG that is known to be ultimately included in some of our products. As a first step in doing so, we identified certain smelters as facilities from which at least one supplier to Emcore exclusively sources its 3TG, allowing us to make the inference that 3TG from these smelters must have made its way in to at least some of Emcore’s products. From the EICC templates we received, we cannot eliminate the possibility that in processing the 3TG used in some of our products, some of these identified facilities (the twenty-two scheduled)-all of which (see column (B)), are outside of the Covered Countries-may nonetheless have used 3TG mined inside one or more Covered Countries (see column (H)).

See column (H) of Schedule 1 for the single smelter that two of our manufacturers reported to us had processed 3TG that had been mined in a Covered Country. In neither report, however, was the precise country or mine of origin specified.