UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM SD
Specialized Disclosure Report
Sequans Communications S.A.
| France | 001-35135 | 20-1476299 | ||
| (State or other jurisdiction | (Commission | (IRS Employer | ||
| of incorporation or organization) | File Number) | Identification No.) |
Les Portes de la Défense, 15-55 Boulevard Charles de Gaulle, 92700, Colombes, France.
(Address of principal executive offices)
Deborah Choate. Chief Financial Officer. +33 170 721600
(Name and telephone number, including area code, of the person to contact in connection with this report.)
Check the appropriate box to indicate the rule pursuant to which this form is being filed, and provide the period to which the information in this form applies:
| x | Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13p-1) for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2015. |
| Item 1.01 | Conflict Minerals Disclosure and Report |
Sequans Communications S.A. is a leader in the fabless semiconductor business and a developer and supplier of integrated circuits supporting WiMax and single-mode LTE chipset solutions and certain system-in-package modules.
This Specialized Disclosure Form (“Form SD”) and the associated Conflict Minerals Report (see Exhibit 1.02 to this Form SD) are being posted to the publicly available Internet site www.sequans.com (follow the http://www.sequans.com/investors/corporate-governance/ link) upon the filing of this Form SD.
| Item 1.02 | Exhibit |
The Company’s Conflict Minerals Report required by Item 1.01 is attached as Exhibit 1.01.
| Item 2.01 | Exhibits |
| 1.01 | Conflict Minerals Report as required by Items 1.01 and 1.02. |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the duly authorized undersigned.
| SEQUANS COMMUNICATIONS S.A. | ||||||
| (Registrant) | ||||||
| /s/ Deborah Choate |
May 19, 2016 | |||||
| By: | Deborah Choate | (Date) | ||||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||
Exhibit 1.01
Conflict Minerals Report of Sequans Communications S.A.
in Accordance with Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
This is the Conflict Minerals Report of Sequans Communications S.A. (“Sequans” or the “Company”) for calendar year 2015 in accordance with Rule 13p-1 (“Rule 13p-1”) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “1934 Act”). Please refer to Rule 13p-1, Form SD and the 1934 Act Release No. 34-67716 for definitions of the terms used in this Report, unless otherwise defined herein.
Sequans Communications S.A. is a leader in fabless semiconductor business and a developer and supplier of integrated circuits supporting WiMax and single-mode LTE chipset solutions and certain system-in-package modules.
Due Diligence (Instructions 1.01(c)(1))
Overview: Conflict minerals are necessary to the functionality or production of semiconductor and module products that Sequans contracts to be manufactured (“In-Scope Products”). For calendar year 2015, Sequans completed due diligence that encompassed:
| • | establishing the extent to which gold, columbite-tantalite (coltan), cassiterite or wolframite, including their derivatives tantalum, tin, and tungsten, (“3TG”) are present in some or all of its products. |
| • | a reasonable country of origin inquiry (“RCOI”) regarding conflict minerals in the In-Scope Products that was reasonably designed to determine whether any of the conflict minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo or an adjoining country (“Covered Country”) or are from recycled or scrap sources; and |
| • | measures to exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of those conflict minerals. |
The Company’s due diligence exercise was based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.
Central elements of our due diligence exercise included:
| • | Maintenance of an internal Sequans team to execute the exercise, including the Quality Assurance Director, CFO, other members of the Company’s Risk Committee and specialists, as required; |
| • | The continuing development of a conflict minerals policy and processes designed to assure initial and continuing compliance with Rule 13p-1. Our processes are designed to respond to current, and new, risks in the supply chain; |
| • | Identification of the In-Scope Products; |
| • | Identification of suppliers of the In-Scope Products; and |
| • | Completion of a survey of those suppliers. |
To strengthen the above elements, additional personnel were made aware, in more detail, of the requirements of the legislation, Sequans’ policies and the necessary due diligence. An additional person was fully trained to be able to manage the due diligence and reporting processes.
Work with Suppliers: Sequans is several levels removed from the actual mining of conflict minerals. The Company does not make purchases of raw ore or unrefined conflict minerals and generally makes no purchases in the Covered Countries.
Sequans adopted the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and Global e-Sustainability Initiative’s (“EICC/GeSI”) Conflict Minerals Reporting template (the “Template”) in 2012 and continues using the Template. Sequans and suppliers used CMRT version 4.01b for the compilation of this report. The Company worked with direct suppliers of materials containing conflict minerals, using the Template as a supply chain survey, to identify the smelters and refiners (“SOR”) that provide those conflict minerals to our suppliers. Initial work and enquiries in respect of calendar year 2015 commenced during the fourth calendar quarter of 2014 and continue to date. Upon determination that all of our products do, or might, contain 3TG, Sequans asked all direct suppliers of materials for such products and related services to complete the Template or provide declarations regarding their use and the sources of 3TG. All suppliers responded. Sequans maintained communications with all suppliers in its efforts to ensure that valid, up-to-date information was used to complete this report and to comply with Sequans’ obligations. If any inconsistencies were identified, Sequans requested clarification from the suppliers concerned. Fully compliant SOR’s were validated against the list issued by the CFSI on April 16th, 2016. Based on suppliers’ responses, Sequans was able to determine the country of origin of the conflict minerals used in some but not all of the In-Scope Products.
Sequans engages in business with one company which is both a supplier of goods and a customer for Sequans’ finished In-Scope product. As to conflict minerals reporting, this creates a circularity situation. The supplier/customer cannot send Sequans a complete declaration until it receives one from Sequans. Sequans cannot send the company a completed declaration until it receives one from the supplier/customer. Following discussions, Sequans therefore accepted an incomplete declaration from the company, in which Sequans’ data are the only data missing – therefore, for the purposes of this report, information on Sequans’ suppliers is complete.
Sequans compared the SOR identified in the supply-chain survey against the list of smelter facilities which have been identified as “conflict free” by programs such as the EICC/GeSI Conflict Free Smelter (CFS) program for conflict minerals, during the reporting period.
Sequans has determined in good faith that for calendar year 2015 its conflict minerals status is uncertain. Sequans makes this determination due to a lack of information from some of its suppliers.
Product Description and Related Matters (Instructions 1.01(c)(2))
Description of In-Scope Products: The In-Scope Products are integrated circuits (semiconductors) supporting WiMax and single-mode LTE chipset solutions and certain system-in-package modules.
Facilities Used to Process Necessary Conflict Minerals in In-Scope Products:
Sequans has identified in its supply chain:
100 facilities for the SOR of Gold. 75 are fully CFSI compliant or being re-audited.
19 facilities for the SOR of Tantalum. All are fully CFSI compliant.
70 facilities for the SOR of Tin. 55 are fully CFSI compliant or being re-audited. 2 are no longer operating (Noted in the below list.).
13 facilities for the SOR of Tungsten. 12 are fully CFSI compliant. 1 SOR is not identified (Noted in the below list.). The supplier concerned has been told to identify or stop using the SOR.
This is the list of SOR’s which have been reported to Sequans:-
| Metal |
Smelter Reference List |
Smelter | ||
| Gold | Aida Chemical Industries Co., Ltd. | CID000019 | ||
| Gold | Allgemeine Gold-und Silberscheideanstalt A.G. | CID000035 | ||
| Gold | Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex (AMMC) | CID000041 | ||
| Gold | AngloGold Ashanti Córrego do Sítio Mineração | CID000058 | ||
| Gold | Argor-Heraeus SA | CID000077 | ||
| Gold | Asahi Pretec Corporation | CID000082 | ||
| Gold | Asaka Riken Co., Ltd. | CID000090 | ||
| Gold | ATAkulche | CID000103 | ||
| Gold | Aurubis AG | CID000113 | ||
| Gold | Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) | CID000128 | ||
| Gold | Boliden AB | CID000157 | ||
| Gold | C. Hafner GmbH + Co. KG | CID000176 | ||
| Gold | Caridad | CID000180 | ||
| Gold | CCR Refinery - Glencore Canada Corporation | CID000185 | ||
| Gold | Cendres + Métaux SA | CID000189 | ||
| Gold | Chimet S.p.A. | CID000233 | ||
| Gold | Chugai Mining | CID000264 | ||
| Gold | Daejin Indus Co., Ltd. | CID000328 | ||
| Gold | Do Sung Corporation | CID000359 | ||
| Gold | Doduco | CID000362 | ||
| Gold | Dowa | CID000401 | ||
| Gold | Eco-System Recycling Co., Ltd. | CID000425 | ||
| Gold | FSE Novosibirsk Refinery | CID000493 | ||
| Gold | Heimerle + Meule GmbH | CID000694 | ||
| Gold | Heraeus Ltd. Hong Kong | CID000707 | ||
| Gold | Heraeus Precious Metals GmbH & Co. KG | CID000711 |
| Gold | Hwasung CJ Co., Ltd. | CID000778 | ||
| Gold | Inner Mongolia Qiankun Gold and Silver Refinery Share Company Limited | CID000801 | ||
| Gold | Ishifuku Metal Industry Co., Ltd. | CID000807 | ||
| Gold | Istanbul Gold Refinery | CID000814 | ||
| Gold | Japan Mint | CID000823 | ||
| Gold | JCC | CID000855 | ||
| Gold | Asahi Refining USA Inc. | CID000920 | ||
| Gold | Asahi Refining Canada Limited | CID000924 | ||
| Gold | JSC Ekaterinburg Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Plant | CID000927 | ||
| Gold | JSC Uralelectromed | CID000929 | ||
| Gold | Pan Pacific Copper Co Ltd. | CID000937 | ||
| Gold | Kazzinc | CID000957 | ||
| Gold | Kennecott Utah Copper LLC | CID000969 | ||
| Gold | Kojima Chemicals Co., Ltd. | CID000981 | ||
| Gold | Korea Metal Co., Ltd. | CID000988 | ||
| Gold | Kyrgyzaltyn JSC | CID001029 | ||
| Gold | L’ azurde Company For Jewelry | CID001032 | ||
| Gold | Lingbao Jinyuan Tonghui Refinery Co., Ltd. | CID001058 | ||
| Gold | LS-NIKKO Copper Inc. | CID001078 | ||
| Gold | Materion | CID001113 | ||
| Gold | Matsuda Sangyo Co., Ltd. | CID001119 | ||
| Gold | Metalor Technologies (Hong Kong) Ltd. | CID001149 | ||
| Gold | Metalor Technologies (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. | CID001152 | ||
| Gold | Metalor Technologies SA | CID001153 | ||
| Gold | Metalor USA Refining Corporation | CID001157 | ||
| Gold | METALÚRGICA MET-MEX PEÑOLES, S.A. DE C.V | CID001161 | ||
| Gold | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | CID001188 | ||
| Gold | Mitsui Kinzoku Co., Ltd. | CID001193 | ||
| Gold | Moscow Special Alloys Processing Plant | CID001204 | ||
| Gold | Nadir Metal Rafineri San. Ve Tic. A.Ş. | CID001220 | ||
| Gold | Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat | CID001236 | ||
| Gold | Nihon Material Co., Ltd. | CID001259 | ||
| Gold | Elemetal Refining, LLC | CID001322 | ||
| Gold | Ohura Precious Metal Industry Co., Ltd. | CID001325 | ||
| Gold | OJSC Krastsvetmet | CID001326 | ||
| Gold | OJSC Kolyma Refinery | CID001328 | ||
| Gold | PAMP SA | CID001352 | ||
| Gold | Prioksky Plant of Non-Ferrous Metals | CID001386 | ||
| Gold | PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk | CID001397 | ||
| Gold | PX Précinox SA | CID001498 | ||
| Gold | Rand Refinery (Pty) Ltd. | CID001512 | ||
| Gold | Royal Canadian Mint | CID001534 | ||
| Gold | Sabin Metal Corp. | CID001546 | ||
| Gold | SAMWON Metals Corp. | CID001562 | ||
| Gold | Schone Edelmetaal B.V. | CID001573 | ||
| Gold | SEMPSA Joyería Platería SA | CID001585 | ||
| Gold | Shandong Zhaojin Gold & Silver Refinery Co., Ltd. | CID001622 | ||
| Gold | Accurate Refining Group | CID001754 | ||
| Gold | SOE Shyolkovsky Factory of Secondary Precious Metals | CID001756 | ||
| Gold | Solar Applied Materials Technology Corp. | CID001761 |
| Gold | Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. | CID001798 | ||
| Gold | Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. | CID001875 | ||
| Gold | Great Wall Precious Metals Co,. LTD. | CID001909 | ||
| Gold | China’s Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd | CID001916 | ||
| Gold | Tokuriki Honten Co., Ltd. | CID001938 | ||
| Gold | Anhui Tongling Nonferrous Metal Mining Co., Ltd. | CID001947 | ||
| Gold | Torecom | CID001955 | ||
| Gold | Umicore Brasil Ltda. | CID001977 | ||
| Gold | Umicore SA Business Unit Precious Metals Refining | CID001980 | ||
| Gold | United Precious Metal Refining, Inc. | CID001993 | ||
| Gold | Valcambi SA | CID002003 | ||
| Gold | Western Australian Mint trading as The Perth Mint | CID002030 | ||
| Gold | Yamamoto Precious Metal Co., Ltd. | CID002100 | ||
| Gold | Yokohama Metal Co., Ltd. | CID002129 | ||
| Gold | Zhongyuan Gold Smelter of Zhongjin Gold Corporation | CID002224 | ||
| Gold | Fujian Zijin mining stock company gold smelter | CID002243 | ||
| Gold | Guangdong Gaoyao Co | CID002312 | ||
| Gold | Umicore Precious Metals Thailand | CID002314 | ||
| Gold | Faggi Enrico S.p.A. | CID002355 | ||
| Gold | MMTC-PAMP India Pvt., Ltd. | CID002509 | ||
| Gold | Republic Metals Corporation | CID002510 | ||
| Gold | Singway Technology Co., Ltd. | CID002516 | ||
| Gold | T.C.A S.p.A | CID002580 | ||
| Gold | Ögussa Österreichische Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt GmbH | CID002779 | ||
| Tantalum | Changsha South Tantalum Niobium Co., Ltd. | CID000211 | ||
| Tantalum | Conghua Tantalum and Niobium Smeltry | CID000291 | ||
| Tantalum | Exotech Inc. | CID000456 | ||
| Tantalum | F&X Electro-Materials Ltd. | CID000460 | ||
| Tantalum | Jiujiang Tanbre Co., Ltd. | CID000917 | ||
| Tantalum | Mitsui Mining & Smelting | CID001192 | ||
| Tantalum | Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co., Ltd. | CID001277 | ||
| Tantalum | Solikamsk Metal Works | CID001769 | ||
| Tantalum | Taki Chemicals | CID001869 | ||
| Tantalum | Ulba Metallurgical Plant JSC | CID001969 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck Co., Ltd. | CID002544 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck GmbH Goslar | CID002545 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck GmbH Laufenburg | CID002546 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck Hermsdorf GmbH | CID002547 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck Inc. | CID002548 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck Ltd. | CID002549 | ||
| Tantalum | H.C. Starck Smelting GmbH & Co.KG | CID002550 | ||
| Tantalum | Global Advanced Metals Boyertown | CID002557 | ||
| Tantalum | Global Advanced Metals Aizu | CID002558 | ||
| Tin | China Rare Metal Material Co., Ltd. | CID000244 | ||
| Tin | CNMC (Guangxi) PGMA Co., Ltd. | CID000278 | ||
| Tin | Alent plc | CID000292 | ||
| Tin | Cooper Santa | CID000295 | ||
| Tin | CV Gita Pesona | CID000306 | ||
| Tin | PT Justindo | CID000307 | ||
| Tin | PT Aries Kencana Sejahtera | CID000309 |
| Tin | CV Serumpun Sebalai | CID000313 | ||
| Tin | CV United Smelting | CID000315 | ||
| Tin | Dowa | CID000402 | ||
| Tin | EM Vinto | CID000438 | ||
| Tin | Fenix Metals | CID000468 | ||
| Tin | Gejiu Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Co., Ltd. | CID000538 | ||
| Tin | Gejiu Zi-Li | CID000555 | ||
| Tin | Huichang Jinshunda Tin Co., Ltd. | CID000760 | ||
| Tin | Gejiu Kai Meng Industry and Trade LLC | CID000942 | ||
| Tin | Linwu Xianggui Ore Smelting Co., Ltd. | CID001063 | ||
| Tin | China Tin (Hechi) | CID001070 | ||
| Tin | Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC) | CID001105 | ||
| Tin | Metallic Resources, Inc. | CID001142 | ||
| Tin | Mineração Taboca S.A. | CID001173 | ||
| Tin | Minsur | CID001182 | ||
| Tin | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | CID001191 | ||
| Tin | Jiangxi Nanshan | CID001231 | ||
| Tin | Smelter not listed (FSE Novosibirsk Refinery. No longer operating. Some material was in the supply chain during 2015.) | CID001305 | ||
| Tin | O.M. Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. | CID001314 | ||
| Tin | OMSA | CID001337 | ||
| Tin | PT Artha Cipta Langgeng | CID001399 | ||
| Tin | PT Babel Inti Perkasa | CID001402 | ||
| Tin | Smelter not listed (PT Bangka Putra Karya. No longer operating. Some material was in the supply chain during 2015.) | CID001412 | ||
| Tin | PT Bangka Tin Industry | CID001419 | ||
| Tin | PT Belitung Industri Sejahtera | CID001421 | ||
| Tin | PT BilliTin Makmur Lestari | CID001424 | ||
| Tin | PT Bukit Timah | CID001428 | ||
| Tin | PT DS Jaya Abadi | CID001434 | ||
| Tin | PT Eunindo Usaha Mandiri | CID001438 | ||
| Tin | PT Karimun Mining | CID001448 | ||
| Tin | PT Mitra Stania Prima | CID001453 | ||
| Tin | PT Panca Mega Persada | CID001457 | ||
| Tin | PT Prima Timah Utama | CID001458 | ||
| Tin | PT Refined Bangka Tin | CID001460 | ||
| Tin | PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa | CID001463 | ||
| Tin | PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa | CID001468 | ||
| Tin | PT Tambang Timah | CID001477 | ||
| Tin | PT Timah | CID001482 | ||
| Tin | PT Tinindo Inter Nusa | CID001490 | ||
| Tin | Rui Da Hung | CID001539 | ||
| Tin | Soft Metais Ltda. | CID001758 | ||
| Tin | Thaisarco | CID001898 | ||
| Tin | VQB Mineral and Trading Group JSC | CID002015 | ||
| Tin | White Solder Metalurgia e Mineração Ltda. | CID002036 | ||
| Tin | Chengfeng Metals Co Pte Ltd | CID002158 | ||
| Tin | Yunnan Tin Company, Ltd. | CID002180 | ||
| Tin | Magnu’s Minerais Metais e Ligas Ltda. | CID002468 |
| Tin | PT Wahana Perkit Jaya | CID002479 | ||
| Tin | Melt Metais e Ligas S/A | CID002500 | ||
| Tin | PT ATD Makmur Mandiri Jaya | CID002503 | ||
| Tin | Phoenix Metal Ltd. | CID002507 | ||
| Tin | O.M. Manufacturing Philippines, Inc. | CID002517 | ||
| Tin | PT Inti Stania Prima | CID002530 | ||
| Tin | CV Ayi Jaya | CID002570 | ||
| Tin | Electro-Mechanical Facility of the Cao Bang Minerals & Metallurgy Joint Stock Company | CID002572 | ||
| Tin | Nghe Tinh Non-Ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company | CID002573 | ||
| Tin | Tuyen Quang Non-Ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company | CID002574 | ||
| Tin | PT Cipta Persada Mulia | CID002696 | ||
| Tin | An Vinh Joint Stock Mineral Processing Company | CID002703 | ||
| Tin | Resind Indústria e Comércio Ltda. | CID002706 | ||
| Tin | Metallo-Chimique N.V. | CID002773 | ||
| Tin | Elmet S.L.U. (Metallo Group) | CID002774 | ||
| Tin | PT Bangka Prima Tin | CID002776 | ||
| Tungsten | Smelter not listed. (One of Sequans’ direct suppliers was unable to identify one SOR.) | 0 | ||
| Tungsten | Kennametal Huntsville | CID000105 | ||
| Tungsten | Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co., Ltd. | CID000258 | ||
| Tungsten | Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. | CID000568 | ||
| Tungsten | Hunan Chunchang Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. | CID000769 | ||
| Tungsten | Japan New Metals Co., Ltd. | CID000825 | ||
| Tungsten | Ganzhou Huaxing Tungsten Products Co., Ltd. | CID000875 | ||
| Tungsten | Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd. | CID002082 | ||
| Tungsten | Xiamen Tungsten (H.C.) Co., Ltd. | CID002320 | ||
| Tungsten | Ganzhou Seadragon W & Mo Co., Ltd. | CID002494 | ||
| Tungsten | Chenzhou Diamond Tungsten Products Co., Ltd. | CID002513 | ||
| Tungsten | H.C. Starck GmbH | CID002541 | ||
| Tungsten | H.C. Starck Smelting GmbH & Co.KG | CID002542 |
More complete details are being posted to the publicly available Internet site www.sequans.com (follow the http://www.sequans.com/investors/corporate-governance/ link) upon the filing of the Form SD. Note that this information is often updated and is therefore not limited to this reporting period.
Information About Country of Origin of Necessary Conflict Minerals Used in In-Scope Products:
Mines have been identified in the following countries as being sources of 3TG used in In-Scope Products;
| Australia, | Bolivia, | Brazil, | Burundi, | Canada, | Chile, | PR China, | ||||||
| DRC, | Ethiopia, | Germany, | India, | Japan, | S. Korea, | |||||||
| Mozambique, | Namibia, | Nigeria, | Peru, | Rwanda, | Russian Federation, | |||||||
| Sierra Leone, | South Africa, | Spain, | Taiwan, | Thailand, | USA, | Vietnam, | ||||||
| Zimbabwe. |
In addition, certain suppliers have indicated sources in “Level 1, Level 2 and or Level 3”1 countries, not specifically identifying the countries.
Information About Efforts to Determine Mine or Location of Origin: The description of our due diligence exercise set forth above under the heading “Due Diligence” covers Sequans’ efforts to determine the mine or location of origin with the greatest possible specificity.
| 1 | Classification of countries is based on the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative’s Conflict-Free Smelter Program Supply Chain Transparency Smelter Audit Protocol for Tungsten (Annex 1 “Materials Classifications”). |
Level 1 countries are defined as “countries with known active tungsten ore production that are not identified as conflict regions of plausible areas of smuggling”.
Level 2 countries are defined as “countries with known or plausible countries for the smuggling, export or transit of tungsten containing minerals out of conflict affected regions (Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa)”.
Level 3 countries are defined as “countries outlined in Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act as those affected or bordering conflict affected regions currently defined as the DRC and its nine adjoining countries (Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia).