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MEPs in the International Trade Committee have given a mixed reaction to proposals by the European Commission aiming at preventing the financing of armed groups through the illegal exploitation of so-called "conflict minerals", during a meeting on 23 February 2015.

The new EU law, announced by the Commission in March last year, seeks to encourage smelters and mineral importers to sign up to international monitoring standards of their raw materials.

The proposals affect those companies trading in tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold that comes from countries where there is armed conflict, or the risk of it.

However, unlike similar legislation passed by the United States in 2010 affecting US-listed companies importing from the Great Lakes countries of central Africa, the proposed EU regulation will not make monitoring mandatory.

Instead, the Commission's proposals seek to encourage firms to sign up by offering incentives for participating companies in EU and national public procurement projects, and by promising "visible recognition" for firms that agree to monitor their imports.

It will have to gain the approval of MEPs and member states before it can enter into force.

On behalf of the centre-right EPP group, Romanian MEP Iuliu Winkler - who is the Parliament's lead negotiator on the plans - said he "largely supported" the Commission's position, adding that the priority should be ensuring that the right incentives would be in place to spur participation in the scheme.

However, the voluntary approach was dismissed by Belgian Socialist Maria Arena, who said the proposals as they stand would not be enough to "change anyone's behaviour at all".

MEPs from the Green and left-wing GUE groups also criticised the "opt-in" nature of the current plans, and promised to table amendments to make internationally-approved monitoring mandatory within the EU.

The committee is due to vote on the text in April, before it is scheduled to be put to a vote at a full plenary sitting of the Parliament at the end of May.