* Congo concerned about potential conflicts of interest
* NGO identifying clean mines also runs traceability scheme
* Great Lakes nations to discuss issue at October meeting
By Pratima Desai and Aaron Ross
LONDON/GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept 27 (Reuters) - D emocratic Republic of Congo plans to look into potential conflicts of interest in a U.S.-funded project to certify mines that produce minerals such as gold and tin responsibly, a Congolese official told Reuters.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is using non-governmental organisation Pact to help the Congolese government identify which sites are free of human rights abuses, such as child labour, and don't fund conflicts.
Pact also works in Congo for ITSCI, the main private sector scheme monitoring mines for abuses, and the government is worried Pact's decisions on which sites are fit for purpose could be skewed by its relationship with ITSCI.
"We are going to look at whether there is a conflict of interest. We need to implement controls on the project to ensure that there is no conflict of interest regarding ITSCI and Pact," said Joseph Ikoli, secretary general of Congo's Ministry of Mines, adding that the government had not been involved in the selection of Pact.
Electronics firms such as Apple and Microsoft are under pressure to show minerals used in products from laptops to smartphones are sourced responsibly. Companies mostly rely on NGOs, auditing firms and certification schemes to give their supply chains a clean bill of health
U.S. legislation passed in 2010 to stamp out "conflict minerals" requires U.S. firms to disclose if their products contain tantalum, tin, tungsten (3T) or gold from Congo - and perform due diligence. A similar EU rule will come into effect in 2021.
GOOD RELATIONSHIPS
Mining sources in Congo said the concern was that Pact could select mines certified by ITSCI to get government export licences while rejecting sites monitored by rival certification schemes, such as the Better Mining programme run by RCS Global, which was previously known as the Better Sourcing programme.
In an emailed statement, Pact said: "We have a good working relationship with mining officials and others, and have never been presented with any conflict of interest concerns."
ITSCI, which is run by the International Tin Association (ITA), referred Reuters to Pact and USAID for comment.
USAID granted Pact $3.7 million in December to develop a more rigorous and transparent approach to tracing minerals from Congo and enable new conflict free mines to be verified quickly.