WASHINGTON -- The controversial conflict minerals rule which requires publicly traded companies to disclose details about their supply chain may be about to get suspended.

According to a Reuters report this week, President Donald Trump is planning to an executive order that would put a stop to the reporting for at least two years.

Section 1502 of the rule, part of the Dodd-Frank legislation of 2010, requires annual disclosures of any conflict minerals necessary to the "functionality or production of a product" that originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. It further mandates disclosure of measures taken to exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of those minerals, which must include an independent private sector audit of the report that is certified by the person filing the report. Violators may be penalized by the SEC.

Proponents of the measure support the effort to stop American businesses from underwriting, even if unintentionally, wars between armed militias in the DRC and adjacent nations, many of which employ children as indentured servants to work the mines and as soldiers. Critics said the bill raised the cost of doing business by adding red tape and expensive reporting measures that would do nothing to stop the violence.

There is no date in place for when such an order would be signed, according to Reuters's sources.

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