Financial Transparency Coalition

Delaying Release of Final Rules on Extractive Industries Disclosure Law Will Hurt Developing Countries, Could Weaken Enforcement The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in April that the final rules for Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection act could be delayed until sometime between August and December 2011, at the earliest.  Once enacted, Section 1504 would require companies operating in the oil, gas and mining industries (the extractive industries) that have to report to the SEC, which includes—at a minimum—all such companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, to report payments made to the...

Last summer, we reported that the Obama Administration planned to globally promote the Energy Security Through Transparency (ESTT) provisions (Sec. 1504) of the new Dodd-Frank legislation.  Now, it appears as though they've remained true to their word. Last July, after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the White House released a statement about Sec. 1504 saying (underlining added by me):

This provision is an essential new tool in promoting transparency in the oil and mineral sectors. This legislation will immediately shed light on billions in payments between multinational corporations...

Last July, the Dodd-Frank act provided in its section 1504 that all companies operating in the extractive industries that must report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would have to publish all payments they make to the U.S. government or any foreign government on a project basis. Since then, the French and British governments have supported similar EU legislation. Many international companies worldwide, and not only the U.S. companies, will be covered by the upcoming SEC regulations which implement section 1504. The argument against such a provision—being a threat to competitiveness—was utilized widely even before Dodd-Frank was...

Better transparency in the extractive industries is essential, but, in all sectors, multinationals take advantage of the secrecy offered by the opaque financial system to avoid contributing to the societies from which they benefit. For this reason, country by country reporting must become a mandatory requirement for multinationals in all sectors – and for oil company executives like Peter Voser to attack such transparency suggests not only being out of touch with the political times, and indeed his own company’s position, but also a lack of concern for some of the poorest people on the planet. Wednesday, the Financial...