Financial Transparency Coalition

BRUSSELS - Today the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) voted in favour of assuming a strong position on European anti-corruption legislation, which would oblige oil, gas, mining firms and the logging industry to report what they pay to governments in countries in which they work. International agency Oxfam and the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) welcome the MEPs’ ambitious proposal on this legislation, which would not only fight against corruption in the extractive or forestry sectors but also in others like banking, telecommunications and construction. MEPs also sent a clear signal that in three years, they want...

United States oil production is at an eight-year high and in December 2011 the country was a net exporter of gasoline for the first time since 1961? Then why are gasoline prices so high? The answer has more to do with sustainability than you may think.

An old industrial dynasty from the German Ruhr region might play a role in blasting the envisaged transparency regulations for the extractive industry proposed by the EU commission. It is one of those typical German Mittelstand (SME) family-owned businesses, which was founded in 1842 by Wilhelm Grillo, and grew into an industrial giant, the Grillo-Werke AG. The core competence on zinc, the company focuses on zinc metallurgy and sulphur chemistry, has an estimated annual turnover of around 600 million Euro, around 1600 employees and is headed by Ulrich Grillo.

The SEC announced that it will vote on key transparency rules from Dodd-Frank Section 1504 in August.