Quality management systems are at the core of every set of critical business processes, and essential among these are anti-counterfeit strategies. Recently, industry headlines have been replete with analyst and government reports documenting the pervasiveness of counterfeit product in supply chains. Rather than a new problem though, counterfeit criminal activity is as old as business itself, and with this history comes an equally long history of anti-counterfeit strategies and risk management practices.

No one appears completely happy with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule on tracking the presence of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in high-tech and other types of products. Comments on SEC's action range from outright opposition to quibbling over details.

Moving at the blinding speed of bureaucracy, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has finally adopted a rule that requires manufacturers to report on their use of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.