UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM SD

SPECIALIZED DISCLOSURE REPORT

CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

California

0-18225

77-0059951

(State or other jurisdiction of

(Commission

(IRS Employer

incorporation or organization)

File Number)

Identification No.)

170 West Tasman Drive, San Jose, California

95134-1706

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

(Zip Code)

Irving Tan, Senior Vice President, Operations

(408) 526-4000

(Name and telephone number, including area code, of the person to contact in connection with this report.)

Not Applicable

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Check the appropriate box below to indicate the rule pursuant to which this form is being filed, and provide the period to which the information in this form applies:

  • Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13p-1) for the reporting period January 1 to December 31, 2018

Item 1.01. Conflict Minerals Disclosure and Report.

Conflict Minerals Disclosure

A copy of the Conflict Minerals Report of Cisco Systems, Inc. ("Cisco") for the reporting period January 1 to December 31, 2018 is filed as Exhibit 1.01 to this specialized disclosure report on Form SD and is also available at Cisco's website by, after clicking on the "Site Map" link at the bottom of the www.cisco.com homepage, clicking on the "About Cisco" link on the resulting webpage and then, on the resulting webpage, clicking on "Supplier Sustainability" under the "Doing Business with Cisco" header.

Item 1.02.

Exhibit.

Cisco has filed, as an exhibit to this Form SD, a Conflict Minerals Report as required by Item 1.01 of this Form.

Item 2.01.

Exhibit.

Exhibit

Description of Document

Number

1.01 Cisco Systems, Inc. Conflict Minerals Report for the reporting period January 1 to December 31, 2018.2

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the duly authorized undersigned.

CISCO SYSTEMS, INC.

Dated: May 23, 2019

By:

/s/ Irving Tan

Name:

Irving Tan

Title:

Senior Vice President, Operations

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Exhibit 1.01 to Form SD

C ONFLICT M INERALS R EPORT

C ISCO S YSTEMS , I NC .

IN ACCORDANCE WITH R ULE 13 P -1 UNDER THE S ECURITIES E XCHANGE A CT OF 1934

Cisco Systems, Inc. (herein referred to as "Cisco," the "Company," "we," "our" and "us") is committed to sourcing components and materials from companies that share our values regarding human rights, ethics, and environmental responsibility. Our supply chain responsibility practices include the sourcing of minerals used in our products. As Cisco does not directly procure minerals from mines, or the smelters or refiners ("SORs") that process them, we work to advance responsible mineral sourcing in the upstream supply chain through our policies and due diligence practices.

About this Report

This Conflict Minerals Report ("CMR") has been prepared by Cisco. The information contained herein includes the activities of Cisco's majority-owned subsidiaries and variable interest entities that are required to be consolidated for financial reporting purposes. It does not include the activities of variable interest entities that are not required to be consolidated for financial reporting purposes.

This CMR for the reporting period January 1 to December 31, 2018 is presented to comply with the final conflict minerals implementing rules ("Final CM Rules") promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), as modified by the SEC order issued on May 2, 2014. The Final CM Rules were adopted by the SEC to implement the reporting requirements mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The Final CM Rules impose reporting obligations on SEC registrants whose manufactured products contain Conflict Minerals (as defined below) that are necessary to the functionality or production of such products. "Conflict Minerals" are currently defined by the SEC as Cassiterite, Columbite-Tantalite (Coltan), Gold, Wolframite, or their derivatives, which the SEC has currently limited to tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (collectively or individually, as appropriate, "3TG").

To comply with the Final CM Rules, we conducted due diligence on the source and chain of custody of the Conflict Minerals that were necessary to the functionality or production of the products that we manufactured or contracted to manufacture to ascertain whether these Conflict Minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country (collectively, "Covered Countries") and financed or benefited armed groups in any of these countries.

1

I. Overview

Company Overview

Cisco designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry and provides services associated with these products and their use.

Products Overview

Cisco has product and service revenue in the following five categories: Infrastructure Platforms, Applications, Security, Other Products, and Services. The Infrastructure Platforms product category represents our core networking offerings of switching, routing, data center products and wireless. The Applications product category consists primarily of software-related offerings that utilize the core networking and data center platforms to provide their functions. The information set forth under the subheading "Products and Services" in "Item 1. Business" of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on September 6, 2018, is incorporated herein by reference.

Supply Chain Overview

Cisco's supply chain operations encompass the development, manufacture, distribution and take-back of our products. This includes sourcing, order management, manufacturing, delivery, and "reverse logistics" (which refers to logistics relating to the return, reuse and/or recycling of products).

We spend billions of dollars each year with a complex community of thousands of suppliers around the world. We have categorized our suppliers into three types: manufacturing partners, component suppliers, and logistics and service providers. Certain component suppliers, e.g. packaging suppliers, as well as logistics and service providers were excluded from the reasonable country of origin inquiry ("RCOI") and due diligence measures discussed below because we have concluded that they do not provide Cisco with any products within the scope of the Final CM Rules.

Due to Cisco's commitment to responsible sourcing, we commenced conflict minerals-related due diligence on a voluntary basis in 2012. As Cisco does not have a direct relationship with 3TG SORs, we collaborate with our suppliers and other companies within our sector to implement many of our Conflict Minerals compliance policies and processes.

Cisco requires "In-Scope Suppliers," defined as suppliers within our product supply chain that could potentially be supplying products/components that contain 3TG, to provide information regarding the origin, source and chain of custody of the Conflict Minerals contained in our product components and materials. Cisco has relied upon such information in the preparation of this CMR.

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Cisco Systems Inc. published this content on 23 May 2019 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 23 May 2019 20:42:01 UTC