Can a distributor with a large, complex catalog use the Assent Distributor Experience?

Yes. The Assent Network is built for catalogs with tens or even hundreds of thousands of products, including parts with multiple product numbers or overlapping numbering schemes across manufacturers. AI helps bulk import products and existing declarations, and Assent’s team supports the mapping, so the data transformation work doesn’t fall on you.

How is proprietary product, customer, and supplier data protected in the Assent Network?

Your data is never shared with other customers or exposed publicly. Requests and responses flow only between companies with an established business relationship, and you control what’s shared with your customers. Assent maintains enterprise-grade security controls to protect data in transit and at rest.

How does the Assent Network help get data from unresponsive suppliers?

The Assent Network sends structured requests, tracks response status, and escalates when suppliers don’t reply. Assent’s Global Supplier Support team also works directly with suppliers in 12 languages, helping them understand the regulations and why the data matters. Supplier data shared in the network can be reused across multiple requests, which lightens the load on suppliers over time.

What happens when a customer uses their own part numbers?

The system uses AI to suggest matches between customer part IDs and your catalog, with confidence levels to help you decide. Once you approve a match, it’s stored and applied automatically going forward. If you’ve already built cross-reference lists for key customers, you can bulk upload them so the work isn’t wasted.

Responsible Minerals Initiative Releases CRT 2.2

The Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) released the Cobalt Reporting Template (CRT) 2.2 in October, continuing its commitment to keeping its cobalt reporting standards up to date and fixing bugs as they arise. This will help any company evaluate their smelters to determine the origin of their minerals.

Version 2.2 of the CRT was released on October 28. The template can be implemented immediately to fix a few issues and keep your smelter information up to date, allowing you to mitigate reputational risk more effectively and show ongoing progress in your disclosures.

The latest version includes updates to the Smelter Reference List, including:

Corrections to reported bugs on the “Smelter List” tab.
Updates to the Smelter Look-up List and Standard Smelter List.
Updated ISO codes.

This update comes as companies continue to expand their conflict minerals programs to account for a responsible mindset. This means evaluating all minerals in the supply chain — not just tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and surrounding countries — to ensure they aren’t associated with human rights violations.

This will likely be the last update RMI publishes this year. It had recently made the Mica Reporting Template (MRT) available.

How Assent Helps Companies Source Responsibly

Assent helps companies mitigate conflict minerals risk by deploying industry standard templates, including the CRT and Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT), through our platform technology. We also support companies as they work to report on their due diligence efforts.

Contact our responsible minerals sourcing experts for more information about cobalt due diligence, leveraging the CRT to get supplier information, and how Assent can support your CMRT and CRT programs.

Jared Connors

Director, Regulatory & Sustainability

Jared is focused on helping companies achieve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals through increased understanding and mitigation of risk. His 12 years of leadership in human rights, anti-bribery Read More

This information is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or regulatory advice. The information is current as of the date of publication or send. Your organization remains responsible for confirming compliance obligations.

Jared Connors | Director, Regulatory & Sustainability

Jared is focused on helping companies achieve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals through increased understanding and mitigation of risk. His 12 years of leadership in human rights, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, and environmental issues help him guide companies into new areas of co...