Tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold are used in several products, including vehicle airbag systems, electronic and computer parts, airplanes, jewelry, X-ray film and metal finishes. These minerals have been designated as conflict minerals because the mining proceeds may be used to fund armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") or certain adjoining countries.

On August 22, 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted rules implementing conflict minerals-related disclosure provisions under Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under this rule, impacted publicly traded companies, including Oracle, must report annually to the SEC on their efforts to determine the use or potential use of conflict minerals in their supply chains. Oracle's May 2016 report covering the calendar year 2015 is available at http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/citizenship/sustainability/supply-chain/index.html.

While the global supply chain for these minerals is complex and multi-tiered and tracing them raises potential challenges, Oracle is committed to ethical business conduct and the responsible sourcing of materials through our global hardware supply chain. Oracle is conducting a reasonable country of origin inquiry of our direct hardware supply chain using a prioritized, risk based approach, and collecting and evaluating supplier responses using the CFSI Conflict Minerals Reporting Template.

Additionally, Oracle is engaged with the EICC as part of a wider industry collaboration to address the issue of conflict minerals.