Exhibit 1.01
Conflict Minerals Report of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc.
In accord with Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
This is the Conflict Minerals Report of American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (“The Company”) for calendar year 2022 in accordance with Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Rule 13p-1”). The intent of this Conflict Minerals Report (“CMR”) is to describe the Company’s due diligence process following Rule 13p-1 requirements.
1. | Design of Due Diligence Measures |
The Company’s due diligence process is based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (“OECD”) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas and accompanying Supplements. The Company engaged Assent Compliance, a third-party service provider, to assist in designing and implementing due diligence measures, including supply chain scoping, supplier engagement, data collection and reporting.
2. | Due Diligence Measures Implemented |
The Company took the following Due Diligence measures:
Adopt a conflict minerals policy
The Company’s conflict minerals policy is publicly available at https://www.aeo-inc.com/responsible-sourcing. It states:
POLICY ON CONFLICT MINERALS LAW COMPLIANCE
I. SCOPE
This policy applies to all American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (“AEO”) suppliers of branded and co-branded products.
II. BACKGROUND
AEO is committed to ensuring that metals and other minerals contained in its branded and co-branded products are obtained, produced and used in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.
Under the “conflict minerals” provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, AEO is required to conduct due diligence regarding its use of four metals: gold, columbite-tantalite (tantalum), cassiterite (tin) and wolframite (tungsten) (collectively, the “Conflict Minerals”) and whether those Conflict Minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo or adjoining countries1 (collectively, the “Covered Countries.”) The goal of these regulations is to end the violent conflict in the
1 | Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia |
region, which has been partially financed by the exploitation and trade of Conflict Minerals originating in the Covered Countries. As a publicly traded company, AEO is required to request certain information from its suppliers and report on its inquiries and due diligence to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
III. POLICY
Each AEO Supplier will be required to provide information each year regarding the origin of any Conflict Minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of AEO products. This inquiry should be reasonably designed to determine whether any such minerals originated in the Covered Countries or are from recycled or scrap sources. The required information will be collected by AEO via a survey, which will be facilitated by a third party company.
Verification efforts will be led by AEO and/or a designated third party company who will also be available to assist suppliers in their efforts to ensure that AEO products are Conflict Minerals free.
AEO does not ban the use of minerals that originate in the Covered Countries. However, suppliers must be able to show proof that the minerals can be traced back to registered conflict-free smelters.
In the event that our suppliers have a reason to believe that Conflict Minerals used in AEO products may have originated in the Covered Countries, we will assist in performing due diligence on our supply chain in a manner consistent with the guidance issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) to ensure that they are Conflict Minerals free.
For more information on the OECD guidelines, please visit https://www.oecd.org/daf/inv/mne/OECD-Due-Diligence-Guidance-Minerals-Edition3.pdf.
Assemble an internal team to support supply chain due diligence
The management of our Conflict Minerals policy lies within our Responsible Sourcing department, which reports into our Production department. The Responsible Sourcing team worked closely with Assent Compliance to design and implement the diligence activities surrounding our minerals supply chain. Additional oversight and input was provided by our Conflict Minerals cross-functional team, which includes representatives from our Finance, Legal, and Internal Audit departments.
Establish a system of controls and transparency over the mineral supply chain
To provide transparency within the Company’s mineral supply chains and to facilitate communication of policies and expectations, the Company engaged Assent Compliance to complement internal management processes. Assent Compliance’s online system is used to identify suppliers in our mineral supply chains and the relationships between them, collect, store and review information on 3TG mineral sourcing practices, track information on smelters and refiners (“SORs”), and flag risks based on SOR sourcing practices. This system utilized the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (“CMRT”) 6.22 or higher for data collection. This system is designed to allow collection and storage of data on supply chain circumstances, which can be updated to reflect changing realities within the supply chain, such as new customer-supplier relationships, new products, etc.
Assent Compliance helped us to engage with our manufacturing suppliers as part of its Conflict Minerals management system. Engagement consisted of multiple communication outreaches to educate suppliers on our expectations for sourcing and Conflict Minerals policy, and the SEC Rule 13p-1 rule requirements.
Supplier engagement followed these steps:
1) | All applicable tier 1 apparel and non-apparel suppliers that shipped product to AEO during the 2022 calendar year were included in the supplier engagement process. Contact information for in-scope suppliers was provided to Assent for upload into their online platform. |
2) | Assent requested that the suppliers complete a CMRT. Suppliers are able to leverage Assent’s team of supplier support specialists to ensure they receive appropriate support and understand how to properly file a CMRT. Assent monitored and tracked all communications for future reporting and transparency. |
3) | Suppliers that responded as being out of scope of the reporting requirements were removed from the survey process upon review. |
4) | Non-responsive suppliers were contacted a minimum of 3 times. If the supplier remained unresponsive, then additional communication attempts were conducted in order to determine why a response was not provided and to offer assistance in completing the request. |
Supplier responses were evaluated for plausibility, consistency, and gaps both in terms of which products were stated to contain or not contain necessary 3TG minerals, as well as the origin of those materials. Additional supplier outreach was conducted to address issues including implausible statements regarding no presence of 3TG minerals, incomplete data on CMRTs, responses that did not identify smelters or refiners, responses which indicated sourcing location without complete supporting information from the supply chain, and organizations that were identified as smelter or refiners, but not verified as such through further analysis and research.
A total of 164 suppliers were identified through the filtering procedures described above as being in-scope for conflict mineral regulatory purposes and were contacted by Assent as part of the “reasonable country of origin inquiry” (“RCOI”) process. The survey response rate among these suppliers was 56%. 13 suppliers responded yes as to having one or more of the 3TG minerals as necessary to the functionality or production of the products they produce. The Company has not received sufficient additional information from the responding suppliers to determine the origin of all of their 3TG minerals. We will continue our due diligence efforts in this regard.
SORs were matched against the Responsible Minerals Initiative’s (RMI) Standard Smelter List. SORs sourcing practices and “conflict-free” sourcing statuses were cross-referenced with the RMI’s Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (“RMAP”), which includes cross-recognized programs with the London Bullion Market Association (“LBMA”) Good Delivery Program and the Responsible Jewelry Council Chain of Custody Certification.
Since most of the CMRTs we received from our suppliers were made on a company level, rather than on a product or user-defined scope, we are not able to identify which smelters or refiners listed on Appendix A actually processed the 3TGs contained in our products. Therefore, our list of processing smelters and refiners disclosed in Appendix A may contain more facilities than those that actually processed the conflict minerals contained in our products.
Set forth below is the list of SORs identified in our supply chain so far and their conflict-free status:
Appendix A
Metal | Smelter Name | Smelter ID | RMAP Audit | |||
Gold | Umicore S.A. Business Unit Precious Metals Refining | CID001980 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Tin Smelting Branch of Yunnan Tin Co., Ltd. | CID002180 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Timah Tbk Mentok | CID001482 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Metalor Technologies S.A. | CID001153 | Conformant | |||
Tin | China Tin Group Co., Ltd. | CID001070 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Shandong Zhaojin Gold & Silver Refinery Co., Ltd. | CID001622 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Alpha | CID000292 | Conformant | |||
Tin | EM Vinto | CID000438 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Gejiu Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Co., Ltd. | CID000538 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC) | CID001105 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Mineracao Taboca S.A. | CID001173 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Minsur | CID001182 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | CID001191 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Operaciones Metalurgicas S.A. | CID001337 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Mitra Stania Prima | CID001453 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Refined Bangka Tin | CID001460 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Timah Tbk Kundur | CID001477 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Rui Da Hung | CID001539 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Thaisarco | CID001898 | Conformant | |||
Tin | White Solder Metalurgia e Mineracao Ltda. | CID002036 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Aurubis Beerse | CID002773 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Guangdong Hanhe Non-Ferrous Metal Co., Ltd. | CID003116 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Tin Technology & Refining | CID003325 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Jiangxi New Nanshan Technology Ltd. | CID001231 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Aida Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. | CID000019 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Agosi AG | CID000035 | Conformant | |||
Gold | AngloGold Ashanti Corrego do Sitio Mineracao | CID000058 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Argor-Heraeus S.A. | CID000077 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Asahi Pretec Corp. | CID000082 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Asaka Riken Co., Ltd. | CID000090 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Aurubis AG | CID000113 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Boliden AB | CID000157 | Conformant | |||
Gold | C. Hafner GmbH + Co. KG | CID000176 | Conformant | |||
Gold | CCR Refinery—Glencore Canada Corporation | CID000185 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Chenzhou Yunxiang Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. | CID000228 | Conformant |
Gold | Chimet S.p.A. | CID000233 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Chugai Mining | CID000264 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Dowa | CID000401 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Dowa | CID000402 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. East Plant | CID000425 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Fenix Metals | CID000468 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Gejiu Zili Mining And Metallurgy Co., Ltd. | CID000555 | N/A | |||
Gold | Heimerle + Meule GmbH | CID000694 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Heraeus Metals Hong Kong Ltd. | CID000707 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Heraeus Germany GmbH Co. KG | CID000711 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Ishifuku Metal Industry Co., Ltd. | CID000807 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Istanbul Gold Refinery | CID000814 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Asahi Refining USA Inc. | CID000920 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Asahi Refining Canada Ltd. | CID000924 | Conformant | |||
Gold | JX Nippon Mining & Metals Co., Ltd. | CID000937 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Gejiu Kai Meng Industry and Trade LLC | CID000942 | N/A | |||
Gold | Kennecott Utah Copper LLC | CID000969 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Kojima Chemicals Co., Ltd. | CID000981 | Conformant | |||
Gold | LS-NIKKO Copper Inc. | CID001078 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Matsuda Sangyo Co., Ltd. | CID001119 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Metallic Resources, Inc. | CID001142 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Metalor Technologies (Suzhou) Ltd. | CID001147 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Metalor Technologies (Hong Kong) Ltd. | CID001149 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Metalor Technologies (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. | CID001152 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Metalor USA Refining Corporation | CID001157 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Metalurgica Met-Mex Penoles S.A. De C.V. | CID001161 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | CID001188 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd. | CID001193 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Nihon Material Co., Ltd. | CID001259 | Conformant | |||
Tin | O.M. Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. | CID001314 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Ohura Precious Metal Industry Co., Ltd. | CID001325 | Conformant | |||
Gold | MKS PAMP SA | CID001352 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Artha Cipta Langgeng | CID001399 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Babel Inti Perkasa | CID001402 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Babel Surya Alam Lestari | CID001406 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Bukit Timah | CID001428 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Prima Timah Utama | CID001458 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa | CID001463 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa | CID001468 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Tinindo Inter Nusa | CID001490 | N/A | |||
Gold | Rand Refinery (Pty) Ltd. | CID001512 | Conformant |
Gold | Royal Canadian Mint | CID001534 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Solar Applied Materials Technology Corp. | CID001761 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. | CID001798 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. | CID001875 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Gejiu Yunxin Nonferrous Electrolysis Co., Ltd. | CID001908 | N/A | |||
Gold | Shandong Gold Smelting Co., Ltd. | CID001916 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Tokuriki Honten Co., Ltd. | CID001938 | Conformant | |||
Gold | United Precious Metal Refining, Inc. | CID001993 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Valcambi S.A. | CID002003 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Western Australian Mint (T/a The Perth Mint) | CID002030 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Yokohama Metal Co., Ltd. | CID002129 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd. | CID002158 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Zhongyuan Gold Smelter of Zhongjin Gold Corporation | CID002224 | Conformant | |||
Gold | SAFINA A.S. | CID002290 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT ATD Makmur Mandiri Jaya | CID002503 | Conformant | |||
Tin | O.M. Manufacturing Philippines, Inc. | CID002517 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Cipta Persada Mulia | CID002696 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Aurubis Berango | CID002774 | Conformant | |||
Gold | WIELAND Edelmetalle GmbH | CID002778 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Ogussa Osterreichische Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt GmbH | CID002779 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Menara Cipta Mulia | CID002835 | Conformant | |||
Gold | Degussa Sonne / Mond Goldhandel GmbH | CID002867 | N/A | |||
Tin | PT Bangka Serumpun | CID003205 | Conformant | |||
Tin | PT Rajawali Rimba Perkasa | CID003381 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Luna Smelter, Ltd. | CID003387 | Conformant | |||
Tin | CRM Synergies | CID003524 | Conformant | |||
Tin | Fabrica Auricchio Industria e Comercio Ltda. | CID003582 | Conformant |
* | Conflict-free status refers to the facility’s RMI audit status. Smelters that are Conformant to RMAP assessment protocols are considered DRC conflict-free. Factories that are not listed as “Conformant” are included in extra due diligence outreach steps throughout the program timeline. These designations are current as of May 5, 2023. |
Report findings to senior management
All supply chain assessment findings are reported to American Eagle Outfitters’ Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer.
Devise and adopt a risk management plan
In addition to the system of controls previously described in this report, we have put in place several procedures to help mitigate the risk of Conflict Minerals entering our supply chain. First, our Conflict Minerals policy is listed in our Corporate Vendor Manual, which our suppliers agree to adhere to when they sign our master purchase agreement. The master purchase agreement is required of each supplier before any production can begin. The Corporate Vendor Manual is available to our suppliers through our Bamboo Rose sourcing system and is updated on a semi-annual basis.
Our suppliers are further reminded of this policy through emails from the Company and through the suppliers’ interaction with Assent Compliance.
In the event that 3TG minerals used in AEO products have been sourced in the DRC or surrounding areas, we work with the supplier to ensure that the minerals are sourced from registered conflict free smelters or are eliminated from use.
3. Steps to Improve Due Diligence
The Company will endeavor to continuously improve upon its supply chain due diligence efforts via the following measures:
• | Continue to compare RCOI results to information collected via independent conflict free smelter validation programs such as RMI’s Responsible Minerals Assurance Process (“RMAP”); and |
• | Contact smelters identified as a result of the RCOI process and request their participation in obtaining a “conflict free” designation from an industry program such as the RMAP audit program. |
4. Product Determination
Based upon its RCOI and due diligence efforts, the Company has been unable to determine the origin of all of the 3TG minerals used in its products.