Financial Transparency Coalition

LONDON - Global Witness is outraged by a lawsuit filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others to gut Section 1504, an important anti-corruption provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (1) By seeking to nullify this provision, API, whose members include British Petroleum, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, and other industry groups are demonstrating that they have something to hide. Any claims by API that they support transparency efforts are preposterous when they are not only trying to weaken the rules but to strike Section 1504 in its...

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...

Today was a very big day for advocates of financial transparency. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to approve the final rules for Dodd-Frank Section 1504, which was passed over two years ago. The rules will immediately go into effect. 1504 requires oil, gas, and mining companies to publish all payments they make to governments.

WASHINGTON, DC – More than two years after the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today voted to adopt implementing rules for Section 1504 of the legislation, which requires companies operating in the oil, gas, and mining sectors to publicly report on the payments they make to foreign governments. The release of the rules enables Section 1504 to finally take effect, and the effected companies will shortly need to begin reporting as required by law.