Company apple response 2017 05 23

From: supplierresponsibility@apple.com [mailto:supplierresponsibility@apple.com] Sent: 22 May 2017 21:42 To: hello@cobaltchildren.org Subject: Thank you for your letter Dear Flinty, Thank you for writing to Apple about your concerns. Apple is deeply committed to the responsible sourcing of materials for our products and we've led the industry in establishing the strictest standards for our suppliers. We are committed to providing fair and safe working conditions, creating greater opportunities for workers, and transparently reporting on our efforts at every level of our supply chain.

Our approach to addressing the sourcing of minerals is unique. We work closely with our suppliers and on the ground with smelters across our global supply chain to push them to improve their business practices. We were the first company to map our conflict minerals (tin, tungsten and tantalum and gold) supply chain down to the mine level, and 100% of our conflict minerals smelters are participating in independent third party audits to assess risks in their own operations. We were also the first company to fully map our cobalt supply chain, and we have driven 100% of our cobalt smelters to also participate in independent third party audits. We recently published a list of all of our tin, tantalum, gold and tungsten smelters and together with the release of our annual progress report on Supplier Responsibility, (https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/) and we published a full list of our cobalt smelters - another first for our industry. If our suppliers are ultimately unable or unwilling to meet our high standards, then we suspend or terminate business with them. Last year we removed 22 smelters from our supply chain.

Earlier this year we directed one of our smelters, Huayou Cobalt, to temporarily suspend providing artisanally mined cobalt to the Apple supply chain due to concerns surrounding its ability to ensure responsible sourcing practices. If Huayou Cobalt can establish that its artisanal cobalt is sourced responsibly in accordance with Apple’s rigorous standards and verified by an independent third party audit, we anticipate being able to accept the resumption of artisanal mined cobalt in our supply chain. We know there are real challenges with artisanal mining of cobalt, but walking away from it indefinitely would be harmful to communities who rely on this mining for their income.

We have also partnered with numerous NGOs to drive change on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including Pact who are working on child labor prevention activities in the DRC. Our commitment to driving responsible sourcing practices globally will not waiver, and we will continue to drive our standards deep in our supply chain. As we continue our efforts to source materials responsibly, we’re also challenging ourselves to one day end our reliance on mining altogether. To start, we’re encouraging more customers to recycle their old devices through Apple Renew. And we’re piloting innovative new recycling techniques, like our line of disassembly robots, so we can put reclaimed materials to better use in new products. It’s an ambitious goal that will require many years of collaboration across multiple Apple teams, our suppliers, and specialty recyclers—but our work is already under way.

Thank you again for your correspondence about this important subject.

Sincerely, Apple Supplier Responsibility