Financial Transparency Coalition

EU Country-by-country reporting rules are now being discussed by member states and the European parliament. But one of the clearest flaws in the European Commission’s (EC) proposal to increase corporate and government accountability has been ignored. Namely, the EC has included an exemption meaning companies would not have to disclose payments in countries where criminal law prohibits such disclosure. Effectively this poses the question “Should the law apply in places where it is most needed, where governments are determined to pass laws to hide their own wrongdoing?”